Madeline Rapoza

Professor Getz
Mosaics II
October 15th, 2015
The Then and Now of Women
Equality of the sexes is something that many individuals strive for but the standard and
imprinted idea that men are superior to women hinders our societies ability to move past this
uneven outlook. As a society we have made steps to modernize and correct the standard
perspective in order to create an even representation of the sexes. There are many mediums such
as novels and movies that encourage and oppose the equality of sexes. Some mediums to
consider are Platos Republic and Hammurabis Law Code, two readings, written in the era of
BC, that share a similar but different view of the sexes. In The Republic, Plato attempts to define
justice through creating an ideal city, touching on every aspect of a society in order to create a
justice constitution. On the other hand, Hammurabis Law Code pertains to an already existing
city and the laws that are enforced by Hammurabi within the society. Exploring the way women
are treated and viewed in these two ancient readings may be able to give us an in depth
understanding as to how and why our society has established such an uneven prospect on the
sexes.
In Platos attempt to create an ideal city, he shines light on every situation that consists in
a society, including the equality of the sexes. For most of the dialogue men are mentioned
significantly more than women, but in book five he specifically touches on the subject as to
where women stand in comparison to men. On page 139 lines 451d4-8, Socrates, the main
character, proposes the question, Do we think that the females of our guard-dogs should join in

guarding precisely what the males guard, hunt with them, and share everything with them? Or do
we think that they should stay indoors and look after the house, on the grounds that they are
incapable of doing this because they must bear and rear the puppies, while the males should
work and have the entire care of the flock (Reeve). The purpose of this question, even though it
is referring to animals, is to decide if women are capable of being held to the same standard as
men or if they are only useful for household duties and bearing children.
After this question was proposed Socrates and Glaucon went back and forth on the
womens stance in society and the final consensus amounted to one statement, on page 144 lines
456a9-11, that read, A women and a man can have the same nature, then, relevant to guarding
the city except to the extent that she is weaker and he is stronger(Reeve). Socrates decided to
allow women and men to share the same jobs in which they are naturally suited for. If a womens
soul is suited to be in the field of medicine she is allowed to take on that pursuit, this also
pertains to subject of women becoming guardians, if the women is suited for the task then she is
capable. Along with women being able to do the same jobs as men, this means they will receive
the same education and physical training required for each job. Socrates was able to realize that
women have a greater good to a society other than household duties and bearing children but he
still believed the idea that women are weaker than men. The fact that this ideal city allows
women to do the same as men is very progressive, but the society falls short by holding women
to such a low standard when it comes to their strength.
On the contrary, in Hammurabis Law Code women are mostly mentioned by means of
marriage and children rather than their societal stance in comparison to men. In this law code
women are presented opportunities that fall under the realm of being able to decide who their
spouse is, if they want a divorce and in certain circumstances women have full control over their

dowry along with entitlement to assets. There is one particular law that gives women many
opportunities, it is law 137 on page 107, it reads, If a man should decide to divorce a sugitu
who bore him children, or a naditu who provided him with children, they shall give her one half
of (her husbands) field, orchard, and property, and she shall raise her children; after she has
raised her children, they shall give her a share comparable in value to that of one heir from
whatever properties are given to her sons, and a husband of her choice may marry her(Roth).
This law allows women to obtain half of the assets that were shared among her and her spouse,
which is a similar right given to women in divorces to this day, she also is allowed to remarry the
man of her choice and her dowry is returned. Allowing divorced women the freedom to remarry
and the opportunity to gain what is rightfully theirs shows the appreciation of women and the
progression to equalize the sexes. One fault in this law though, is that these opportunities were
only presented to women if they bore their husband children. This requirement placed on law
137 depicts the idea that a womens biggest contribution to a society is the fact that she can bear
children and if she does not do so she is undeserving of certain opportunities. Hammurabis laws
focus on women mainly in the context of marriage and children rather than them as individuals,
this makes it difficult for the society to view women other than as a wife or a mother.
Overall the opportunities presented to women in these two cities are different but in some
shape or form they both support the uneven perspective of the sexes by holding women to a
lower standard in comparison to men. In Platos attempt to create an ideal city he is progressive
when it comes to the sexes because he recognizes women as individuals and allows the same
training and jobs for both women and men. He does falls behind though by simply projecting the
idea that women are weaker than men. Unlike The Republic, Hammurabis Law Code almost
never speaks of women as individuals. The lack of mentioning women in terms other than

bearing children and marriage depicts the idea that women suit a society best by performing
those actions and not by getting a job, which is the modern societal contribution for both men
and women. When looking at the bigger picture these two cities presented women with
opportunities and rights that are not far off from the ones given to women in the modern day, but
after analyzing these texts it is clear that the uneven prospect of women being inferior to men
originated and was supported in our earlier time periods.

Works Cited
Hoffner, Harry A. Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Ed. Martha Tobi.
Roth and Piotr Michalowski. 2nd ed. Vol. 6. Atlanta, GA: Scholars, 1997. N. pag.
Print.
Reeve, C.D.C. Plato Republic. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett, 1992. Print.