Women's Roles In Greek Mythology

Looking into mythology as a whole, the roles of women were far less important than the roles men played in society. They are always given the role of “temptress”, or the victim, or the heroine. Women are portrayed as the problem, yet are always the strong main character in tales. In reality, woman never got a chance. The myths give woman stronger roles than they would have gotten in real life. If a woman gave birth to a girl, she would turn her head away from her husband in shame. Mythology glorified women’s lives.
There is an interesting contradiction between goddesses and ancient woman. The general public treated women very differently than the way they are depicted in the stories passed around. They were not allowed to vote, or own land. They were the stereotype: “Stay in the kitchen, take care of the kids and make me a sandwich,” that we joke about in today’s society. They were expected to be pure before marriage and were looked down upon if they weren’t. Men were …show more content…
They were taught to service their future family. Not to encourage cognitive expansion. Women were seen as objects of trade. Young girls grew up under control of their fathers. Then at 13, they were handed off to arranged marriages. Men slept with whomever they wished, and found love elsewhere if they had no connection with their wife. The woman was expected to stay in her place and be faithful and pure. They were not even allowed to talk to people outside of their families. They could not own land or control anything really. The Goddess of agriculture, Demeter, was in charge of the land and making sure the crops were growing. Although women were not allowed to own land, they depended on a Goddess to give the land that men owned, the life it needed to strive. After Hades kidnapped her daughter, Demeter became depressed, and for 6 months the land stopped producing crops. People worshiped her until her daughter came home and the land was replenished with