It was widely accepted that male and female bodies complement each other and as in present times, historically women had always been associated with procreation and child rearing. In the ancient world, governments and rulers implemented laws, for a variety of reasons, in an attempt to control women’s sexuality. Privately, within the family, girls were taught from a very young age by parents that the honour of the family depended on their sexual behaviour. They were mostly confined to their homes, were under the authority of a male member of the family, could not work outside the house, and could not be as educated as the men. The sole purpose of marriage in the ancient days was not love or companionship but procreation and women were expected to bear many children for their husbands. Those who bore many children, especially sons, were honoured and favoured by their husbands. Those who were unable to bear children were considered cursed by the gods and were dishonoured or even divorced. Ancient civilizations believed in pagan gods and a woman’s sexuality was often associated with favours received from these gods. Traditions and cultures were created around the thought that a virtuous woman pleased the gods who in return blessed the lands with good crops and gave victory in wars.
To understand the norms and traditions of the ancient civilizations, it is important to step back and analyse the social structure upon which these ancient societies were built, including the Roman society. Unlike modern societies which focus on individual contributions to society, ancient societies were built around communities or groups which were made of families or clans. The family structure was hierarchical and the head of each clan or family was the oldest male usually a father or the grandfather. This male member was responsible for providing for the needs of the family and so had powers to make all decisions regarding the lives of each member of the family. The main source of income was agriculture. Work was divided between men and women with men having to plough the lands or shepherd the sheep and women having to weave clothes, prepare food, and rear children. Labour was not easily available so more the children and larger the family, wealthier the family. Sons were considered assets because they did the work that brought home the money and women were considered an overhead. So when a daughter reached puberty she was married away to a man chosen by her father. The father paid dowry because a daughter had no inheritance rights and handed over her to their husband, who controlled the dowry. Thus the woman passed from the control of the father to the control of the husband. As a wife the woman was expected to bear children and rear them while managing other household chores. There were no laws giving legal status to women and this social structure was prevalent in almost all ancient civilizations. The most powerful and dominant of these societies or communities eventually grew up into a civilization. Once such small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula grew into the mighty Roman civilization (Ancient Rome, pars 1).
Dominant communities grew into civilizations and empires but remained deeply rooted to their core beliefs. Although it is very difficult to generalize the status of women in the ancient world let alone ancient Rome, it can be said with certainty that, according to modern standards, women in the ancient world were considered inferior to men. They were considered property of a male, either of the father before marriage or the husband after marriage. Although communities grew into structured societies or civilizations yet laws concerning women and their legal rights remained unchanged. The ancient family structure of a community transformed into the social structure of the civilization and so the Roman social structure became very hierarchical and class based. Laws were applied based on whether a person was male or female, freemen or bondmen, citizens or aliens. The prevailing social conditions and an old mindset considered equality an alien concept and the rulers were unwilling to anger other powerful men by giving any legal status to Roman women, let alone bondmen and slaves. Roman society placed a lot of importance on traditional family values and women, especially those from noble families, were expected to be shy, obedient, and chaste. Sexual expression was forbidden as it was believed that the virtue of their women helped win their city favour from their gods. (Smitha, Frank E.). Women in ancient Rome played predefined roles of a daughter, sister, wife, and mother. Once married, their primary functions were child bearing and rearing and women were given considerable honour, especially if they bore sons or many children for the family. Mothers were expected to imbibe in their children good values and prepare them to be good Roman citizens. Since women were expected to shape future Roman citizens, there may have been a fear that if women were educated, worked, or run for office they might neglect their primary functions. So they were usually confined to their houses and even the wives of wealthy men did little more than supervising the slaves and house staff. These stereotyped attitudes towards women did not change even after the small Roman community was transformed into the mighty Roman Empire.
Emperor Augustus turned his attention to the social behaviour of his empire after a long and bitter civil war, a war that reduced the population of native Romans. During the later part of the reign Augustus noticed a major degradation in social behaviour and shift in racial balance. Augustus was also concerned that family values and ancient Roman standards had eroded and was replaced with sexual excesses. Divorce and adultery was common, and marriage and birth rate among Romans had fallen drastically. Roman elite spent more time in personal indulgences, focussing more on self than on development of society. Augustus blamed women and associated the moral decay of the Roman society with their expressive sexual behaviour. Augustus like other conservative Romans believed that this moral decline may anger the gods who gave him victory in his wars. To please the gods and men in power he implemented reforms to feminine sexuality in an attempt to improve morality in the society. He introduced legislations declaring adultery a criminal offence punishable even by death. If a wife was proved guilty of adultery the law required the husband to divorce his wife. A woman caught in adultery was to be banished, lose half her dowry and one third of any additional wealth she possessed. A classic example is the emperors own daughter, Julia, who are convicted of adultery and was the victim of his anti adultery law. (Thompson, James C. – The Augustan Reformation).
Augustus belonged to the aristocrat class and he was upset by the decline in numbers of his own class. He attempted to increase the birth rate especially among native Romans and restore family values through a series of laws that promoted not just marriage but also procreation. People who remained single or married without children after they were twenty were to be penalized through taxation (Smitha, Frank E.). He passed laws that encourage all men under 60 and women under 50 to marry. Failure to do so would mean they could not inherit. Women with three or more children could wear a special garment and were freed from the authority of their husbands (James C. Thompson – The Augustan Reformation). In spite of aggressively pushing for family reforms, he was unsuccessful in improving the moral standards of the Roman Empire.
Without a doubt wars have both a direct and indirect effect on the population. Wars in ancient days lasted long years and invariably led to the deaths of soldiers who were mostly men. The only way to maintain a steady population of a certain race was through procreation. In the Roman class based society, slaves could not become governors and therefore there was a need for steady population growth not just within the empire but within each class to fill positions of priests, administrators, tradesmen, and slaves. Under new Augustus laws marriages ended up with divorces and procreation reduced. To add to that since infant mortality rates were very high only the strongest few survived. With diseases spreading easily and a low life expectancy few people lived beyond 50 years. Ancient civilizations had laws in place such as Augustus’ family reform laws for marriage and procreation, which was used to exercise control over woman’s sexuality to ensure stable population of a nation and particular race.
These days with advancements in science people live longer and there is a general consensus that population need to be controlled if we want to eradicate poverty and control effects on environment. Modern governments have developed policies, rules and regulations designed to control or manage population, mainly through controlling the sexuality of women. They have created departments such as family planning and health that focus mainly on educating women about their sexual rights and liberties, giving them the ability to regulate their fertility. To appear modern and progressive, these governments have abolished most laws against fornication, adultery, or homosexuality. This has encouraged women to freely express themselves sexually. Moreover since the consequences of sexual freedom are conception or sexually transmitted diseases, a variety of contraceptives are made available to control unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. If contraceptives fail, under the guise of promoting women’s health, abortion is freely available which is state sponsored. Since 1973 in USA alone there has been an estimated 32.5 million abortions which is the approximately the population of Canada. It causes one to wonder if sexual revolution and freedom of sexual expression has actually turned women into merely objects of sex. It can be plainly seen that there is a definite attempt to reduce the national population, though not explicitly, and the argument for that seems to that an increasing population puts strains on the economy and natural resources. However this is not true and the major cause of unequal access to resources seems to be that 20% of the nation’s population control 80% of its wealth. This deprives the remaining 80% of the struggling population of even the basic necessities. (Karkal, Malini para 1). This attempt to manipulate population through controlling a woman’s fertility and sexuality has led to delays in marriage and reduced number of children per couple. There are concerns now that this may affect our ability to provide social care for the aging population.
In conclusion, male dominated cultures treated female sexuality as something that needed to be controlled, usually through social laws and restrictions on female behaviour. Modesty, virginity and chastity were highly priced characteristics in a woman and ancient cultures enforced them, without imposing them on men. Adultery was wrong and immoral and Emperor Augustus imposed harsh laws including banishment and death for those convicted of adultery. To improve moral behaviour and return to ancient Roman standards, he publicly rewarded marriage and procreation. Governments, both ancient and modern, sought to control female sexuality in an attempt to manage the overall national population.
Works consulted
- “Ancient Rome”. Wikipedia. https://ed.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome. Web.
- Karkal, Malini. “Woman’s sexuality dominated by men”. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics.
- Smitha, Frank E. “From Republic to Emperor Augustus”. Web.
- Thompson, James C. “Women in the ancient world”. Web.
- “Women in Ancient Rome”. Wikipedia. Web.