Other women, such as this slave girl, do not have any rights. On the grave is only Haegeso's father's name. In fact, this box of jewels probably represents part of the dowry Proxenos gave to his daughter's husband when she left her father's home to begin her life in her husband's. Marriages are arranged and a woman gives up all her belongings and rights when she is married. This is a patriarchal society with the woman as a second-class citizen (142).
In most cases, except for the Minoan culture, the women's status continued to decline as the culture became more structured and urban. Except for the earliest times, therefore, women have had a subservient role....
This has not only been in Western society, but Eastern cultures as well. Women did not fare well in early Japan or China either. It has only been in the recent century that women have begun to regain their status, but far from the matriarchal society that once was in the earliest of times. Can there ever be a truly equal society or a matriarchy again? Males are dominant in most populous present day societies. In large part, this is due to the hundreds of years of military expansion. As long as there is war, one can expect to see male dominance in a culture.
Reference
Kleiner, Fred S., and Mamiya, Christin. Gardner's Art through…
