My Feminist Padlet by Isabella Cooper

Egypt: Daily Life

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 19:47:49 UTC

Women worked around the house, prepared food, cooked meals, made clothes, etc. A peasant woman might spend all day kneading flour into dough or tending the garden, in addition to helping their husbands in the field. Wealthier women spent their time managing servants and running their own businesses. Some women even worked as musicians or dancers in court!

Egypt: Marriage Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 19:49:12 UTC

Women weren’t required to marry or accept marriage proposals. In fact, women were allowed to get divorced! In all marriages, women brought dowry’s of land and goods. Even something were to happen in her marriage, the items in her dowry were hers forever.

Egypt: Family Life

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 19:51:53 UTC

Mother’s taught their daughter’s homemaking skills and how to manage a household. Girls were also expected to help raise their younger siblings. Women were expected to be good wives and mothers (though they could get employment outside of the home.) In the event that a women got divorced, she could keep a third of her husbands wealth to care for her children. She was also legal allowed to have a will to a lot her assets to her children.

Egypt: Political Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 19:52:43 UTC

Egypt had multiple female pharaohs, who were treated as “female kings” rather than queens. Female pharaohs and their influence can be seen all throughout Egypt's history, through their tombs and architecture.

Egypt: Fashion

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 19:53:59 UTC

Women often wore wigs or false braids in addition to their silver combs and hairpins. Women also wore deep, dark eye makeup. Jewelry was worn to show wealth, in addition to perfume.

Egypt: Influential Women

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 19:55:10 UTC

Hatshepsut ( 1473-1458 BCE) was a pharaoh, builder, and warrior. She ruled when her husband died and her son was too young to rule. She had many temples built, and is said to have run military campaigns. She formed alliance and opened trade routes, which supported Egypt’s economy.

Rome: Daily Life

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 19:57:46 UTC

Women were generally not accepted into public life, however they could own property and run businesses. They were able to pursue a variety of jobs including merchants, midwives, and scribes. Wealthier women were usually educated and able to read and write.

Rome: Marriage Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 20:00:11 UTC

Roman girls were typically married young (14 or 15), and wives were actually considered property of their husbands.

Rome: Family Life

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 22:50:05 UTC

All aspects of home life were controlled by the women of Ancient Rome, and they were considered the “materfamilias” which meant “women of the family.” Despite this, when it came to children husbands had all legal rights.

Rome: Political Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 22:50:55 UTC

Women were not allowed to vote or political offices. Women weren’t even considered legal citizens! Despite this, many women exerted influence through the men in their lives.

Rome: Fashion

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 22:51:53 UTC

Women wore their hair back in buns or braids and typically wore white toga’s with colored shows and rope belts.

Rome: Influential Women

icooper25 — 2024-02-02 22:52:49 UTC

Livia Drusilla is one of the most iconic women in all of history, and can instantly be identified in paintings and sculptures by her signature hairstyle (a braid leading into a bun.) She’s the wife of the first Roman emperor, and beloved by the Roman people. She’s considered the mother of the empire.

Greece: Daily Life

icooper25 — 2024-02-05 16:21:40 UTC

Women only left the house for very special events. When they did leave, they had to be accompanied by a male relative and/or servant. While at home, women could supervise children and servants, and learn the skill of weaving. Women from Sparta hunted for their food to provide for their family.

Greece: Marriage Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-05 16:22:56 UTC

Girls in their mid-teens likely married men in their 20s and 30s through arranged marriages. Marriages were usually arranged though parents who considered wealth and status rather than love.

Greece: Family Life

icooper25 — 2024-02-05 16:23:57 UTC

Greek women were heavily pressured to have children. Women of childbearing age were expected to have as many children as possible, and were often judged on their womanhood based on their children. At the time, giving birth was risky for both the mother and the child, and death during childbirth was common.

Greece: Political Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-05 16:24:36 UTC

Women had zero political rights throughout all of Greece. Women could not vote or run for office, and were generally treated as second class citizens.

Greece: Fashion

icooper25 — 2024-02-05 16:25:11 UTC

Greek women usually wore togas or one piece gowns with circlets in their hairs (if they were wealthy.) Athenian women in particular had delicate clothing, as they did not leave the house often.

Greece: Influential Women

icooper25 — 2024-02-05 16:26:00 UTC

Sappho of Lesbos wrote and performed lyric poetry, her most famous works being about love between women. The word “lesbian” is derived from “lesbos” because of Sappho’s depictions of queer romance.

China: Daily Life

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:38:54 UTC

Upper class women were expected to stay in the family home, manage household finances, and raise children. Loweclass women worked in rice fields all day, were subject to abuse form landowners if any deadlines were missed, and may be forced into prostitution.

China: Marriage Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:40:55 UTC

Marriages were usually arranged by both sets of parents when their kids were still young. Men could divorce their wives fro a number of reasons, such as failure to bear or sun or even just talking too much. Unmarried women brought a special tax on their family during the Han dynasty.

China: Family Life

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:41:50 UTC

Women were subordinate or “property” of first their father, then their husbands, and (in the event they were widowed) their son. Women were responsible for raising children, and expected to produce male heirs. When married, it was of the utmost importance that women continued to treat her birth family and her husbands family with respect.

China: Political Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:43:01 UTC

Typically, women were not able to take part in politics. However, one notable exception is Emperor Wu who started her journey as a concubine to an emperor, and ended up becoming the emperor after he passed away.

China: Fashion

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:44:38 UTC

At the time, many Chinese women were subject to “feet wrapping.” Since smaller, more dirty feet were considered more attractive, girls as young as 10 were forced to wrap their feet tight with fabric as to theoretically “make them smaller.” This restricted women’s movements and freedoms, and often times was immensely painful.

China: Influential Women

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:45:13 UTC

Ban Zhao was a famous female scholar and writer in early china. Her most famous work “instructions for a women” encouraged women to become educated, although it was for the purpose of supporting their husbands work.

Me: Daily Life

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:46:34 UTC

As a young women, I’ve attended school for the majority of my life, and will be permitted to attend university. Afterschool, I can be seen doing homework, practicing for musical performances, or writing essays and building robots in our robotics.

Me: Marriage Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:47:26 UTC

Today, women have the right to marry, not marry, get divorced, etc. Women have the right to reject proposals, propose themselves, marry another women, and everything in between. Women can choose to get married at any time, and do not have to take on their husbands last names.

Me: Family Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:48:31 UTC

Because there is no “typical family” anymore, family roles must adapt to each household. A women’s role might be different in a house of all women vs. a house where they live with their dad and brothers. Adoption, surrogacy, etc. are also more common than before.

Me: Political Rights

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:49:55 UTC

Although women are still fighting for equality in political spaces, they have the right to vote, run for office, and many women already have! Women are considered citizens, and have right to own property, run businesses, right wills, etc.

Me: Fashion

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:51:24 UTC

Women of today can where whatever they want! From crop tops to corsets, women have access to many different types of clothing. Trends go in and out of style quickly, but we were recently in the era of the overalls!

Me: Influential Women

icooper25 — 2024-02-06 19:52:01 UTC

From Michelle Obama to Beyonce, women have multiple role models to aspire too. For example, Ruth Bader Ginsburg who was a female Supreme Court justice who fought for women’s rights and autonomy as a lawyer, and then as a judge.