Woman's Situation in Old Times

in ancient societies in most european, asian and middle eastern countries, the status of woman was less than that of man. the corrupt modes of thinking dominated by superstition, astrology, etc were the main reason of ill-treatment of woman in ancient times was the spread of myth which had risen to the place of religion and thus its effect on human relations was deepened. in this regard, encyclopedia britannica indicates that: "the status of woman in athens deteriorated to the level of slaves. wives were segregated at home without education and enjoyed minimum rights. in the view of their husbands, they were not better than slaves or any movable property. in ancient rome, woman was fully subject to legal authority of her father or brother at first then her husband, who had a parental authority on her. law-wise, woman was stupid."^[1]    

mocking the ancient greek attitude towards woman, bernard russell once wrote: "aristotle asserted that woman had fewer teeth than man. although he married twice, he never tried to check the mouths of his wives to prove this statement."^[2]

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[1] encyclopedia britannica, (1984) vol. 19, p. 909.

[2] bernard russell, the impact of science on society (1976), p 17.