Introduction

Han Dynasty China and Rome (the Republic and then the Empire) were the two pillars of an immense and connected Afro-Eurasian ancient world. Vast, complex states, they each left a legacy of written sources and archaeological remains for us to study. However, almost all these sources were created by men and dealt mainly with men’s exploits and experiences. The daily lives of half of those civilizations’ populations—women—are much more difficult for us to learn about. That’s because both societies gave men most of the power and limited the freedoms and aspirations of women. But a careful reading of the evidence shows that in both places, many women did have some power—and fought for more. Let’s compare women’s experiences in Rome and under the Han Dynasty by looking at them through economic, legal, political, and cultural frames.

Society and economics

"WHAT WERE WOMEN'S EXPERIENCES LIKE IN ROME AND HAN DYNASTY CHINA?"

Women’s experiences—and the extent of their power—in Rome and China varied greatly because both societies had class structures that resulted in the wealthy and poor living very different lives.

Rome, especially when it became an empire, was a society in which the opportunities you were granted depended on your place in the class structure. At the bottom, enslaved women lived lives of labor, usually working on farms or as domestic workers. Most free women also had to work in the home, where men were not expected to do much housework. But in addition to doing domestic chores, free women might make clothing or other goods for sale. Some worked in stalls in the market or even taverns, and the more fortunate might own a business. Women of the wealthier classes might spend their days running the family estate for their fathers or their husbands. They might have some time for fun and relaxing, but they usually didn’t have wealth of their own.

In Han Dynasty China, women at the bottom of the social ladder were often bonded, or forced to work as servants without much choice in the matter. Most women were part of farming families and worked both at housework and helping to grow food, with some involved in selling or making goods as well. Wealthy women often ran family households while their husbands worked for the government. They were rarely independently wealthy, although some had dowries from their parents, which gave them influence in their household.

You might notice that there are a lot of shared experiences across the two societies, but there were also subtle differences. Everyday women in Rome had a bit more opportunity to make money, for example.

Legal rights and status

The economic limits on women were supported by law and philosophy in both Rome and Han Dynasty China. In China, Confucian family law strictly demanded that women be obedient to their fathers, their husbands (if they married), and even their sons. Usually, girls didn’t inherit wealth from their fathers. Rather, sons were favored, with girls having very limited rights. Women could divorce their husbands in a few situations, but it was quite difficult.

Domestic: relating to the home or family

Dowry: money, goods, or property that a bride’s family gives to the room or the groom’s family at marriage

Confucian: ideas, values, or practices that come from Confucianism, a belief system based on the teaching of Confucious that emphasizes respect, family loyalty, and social harmony

These realities for Han Dynasty women are reflected in many written sources of the time. For example, Ban Zhou, a female philosopher, wrote in her Admonitions for Women, “Let a woman modestly yield to others; let her respect others; let her put others first, herself last.” She also wrote, “lay the [girl] baby [at birth] below the bed to plainly indicate that she is lowly and weak, and should regard it as her primary duty to humble herself before others.” In the Liji, or Book of Rites that influenced Han Dynasty political thought, it is written that “A woman is obligated not to act on her own initiatives and must submissively obey or follow: her father at home, before getting married; her husband, after getting married; her sons, in widowhood after her husband’s death.”

For much of the period of the Roman Republic, women were similarly bound by a set of laws called patria potestas (the authority of the father). They were considered essentially the property of their fathers, and then their husbands. At the same time, women who were the offspring of Roman citizens were generally considered citizens themselves and had some rights (although not the right to vote or hold office). They could initiate a divorce and even sign contracts themselves. After about 100 BCE, they could also own property. However, women of the poorer classes did not have these rights.

Political participation

Romans generally believed that women should have some power in private spaces—like the home—but not in public spaces. As a result, women who were Roman citizens had some political rights, but they had little real power. This was true even for women of the most powerful families. The mothers and wives of emperors could wield some influence, but if they tried to exercise power too openly, they were accused of being “manly” or, worse, poisoners and witches. The writer Tacitus, whose books are an important source of Roman political history, wrote about two wives of the emperor Claudius, both of whom were unusually powerful. The first, Messalina, Tacitus accused of very bad behavior, and he wrote that she “played with the affairs of Rome like some toy for her personal pleasure.” The second, Agrippina, he admitted wasn’t immoral, but he said that she “had an enormous desire for money which was excused with the reason that money was a means to power.” Another important Roman, the statesman Cato, thought all Rome’s problems were the result of women who had too much influence over men. He was said by the writer Plutarch to have complained, “All other men rule their wives; we rule all other men, and our wives rule us.”

These complaints were, of course, one way that men limited Roman women’s political participation. But they also reveal that wealthy, elite women could exercise popular political power at times. In 215 BCE, a law was passed limiting women from wearing gold or riding in carriages. When, in 195 BCE, the law came up for review, urban women took to the streets of Rome, blocking men’s access to the forum and forcing the law to be repealed.

Cultural expectations

It won’t surprise you that the cultural expectations of women tended to support the political and economic limits that society put on them. In Rome, for example, women were expected to be “modest” and those who obeyed their husbands and worked to make the home a clean and supportive environment were held up as more virtuous than those who did not. At the same time, women could take on some cultural roles, especially if they were wealthy. Elite women might be educated. They might financially support poets and writers. Some even made their homes centers of learning, theater, and entertainment, although this was considered somewhat scandalous. Women could play some cultural roles, as priestesses for example, and some even paid for statues and buildings. Lower-class women were mostly thought to be immoral, and Roman stories about them often warned that they needed to be carefully controlled.

Han Dynasty Chinese texts and art also emphasize the virtue of women being humble and obedient and taking care of the home and children. Even fewer Han women were educated than in Rome, although there were a few outstanding examples, like Ban Zhao who wrote the Admonitions for Women. She was recognized as a philosopher and historian. We know very little about lower-class women in the Han Dynasty, partly because most of the writing of the time ignores them entirely.

Conclusions

The sources we have from Han Dynasty China and Rome lead us to conclude that women in both societies had a much lower status than men. In particular, lower-class women had very little power and, in most cases, were unable to shape their own lives. Elite women had more rights, although in different ways in each of the two societies. Both societies tended to tell women that they were supposed to be obedient and that their main influence was in the home. Nonetheless, women were essential to the economies of these two great states, both in the public sphere and in their roles at home and as mothers.