Should We Blame Gender Bias on the Ancient Romans?
Honor Cargill-Martin, a classical scholar, recently wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times, arguing that Roman culture was potentially the cause of modern-day gender bias in Europe and other western cultures. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/31/opinion/trump-harris-misogyny-history-rome.html?searchResultPosition=1.
Apparently, early Roman aristocratic men became concerned that women were seizing power from them. Women were lurking behind the seat of power, getting their way by poisoning men in control. Even if women were not poisoning men, didn’t everyone remember Livia, wife of Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, who provided positive updates on her husband’s health until her son got control? Roman historians argued that women were behind plots that “circumvent[ed] the power of the Emperor and the Roman people.”
Many tales of wayward women were, of course, exaggerated. Roman women were well-educated, and their persuasiveness behind the scenes was the only effective way to influence male rulers.
However, it seems unfair to blame gender bias solely on the ancient Romans. If we review data from archeological sites, before and after the Romans were in control, we learn that different cultures followed the Roman pattern. Others did not.
In fact, gender inequality may have arisen around 8,000 years ago during the Neolithic period. Some researchers argue that change in a society from being hunter-gatherers to farmers may have created roles for men and women that were different. Cave paintings detail the changing nature of societies. https://pages.vassar.edu/realarchaeology/2023/09/17/the-archaeology-of-the-origins-of-gender-biases/.
Research from Washington University provides some evidence that gender bias existed 1,000 years ago in the European Middle Ages. Reviewing dental records from 10,000 people and 139 archaeological sites, researchers found patterns emerging. Certain sites exhibited a more pro-male bias, other sites, pro-female. Those early patterns of pro-male or pro-female bias also carried on through the generations that followed.
In Dobruja region of Romania, researchers excavated a site from around 550 A.D. on the Black Sea. From the 49 skeletons which allowed gender and dental information to be obtained, 58 percent of the women showed signs of malnutrition and trauma to their teeth, with only 25 percent of men reflecting the same pattern.
In another archaeological site, also dating from around 550 A.D., in a rural area of what is now western Lithuania, researchers examined the dental records of 157 skeletons. The results were the opposite. 56 percent of the men’s teeth showed signs of trauma and malnutrition, whereas 46 percent of the women’s teeth exhibited the same pattern. The findings reflected that men and women were treated equally—they all had rotten teeth. Although not detailed, researchers at the site also apparently concluded that “gender norms…. were favorable to women.”
In a final analysis, sites that had a more pro-male bias, with men having better preserved teeth, reflected a society that gave deference to men. In other sites which reflected more favorable gender norms, the better condition of women’s teeth evidenced a more favorable position of women in the society. Trauma, malnutrition, or disease were factored in, but there were still differences in the male and female skeletons depending on how they were treated in society. The researchers stated: “Given the enormous social, economic, and political changes that have taken place in Europe during this time, our findings speak to the power of cultural transmission of gender norms.”
https://source.washu.edu/2023/03/research-highlights-gender-bias-persistence-over-centuries/.
Archaeological studies also reflect that if an ancient society had gender equality, that societal norm was passed to each succeeding generation even though institutions or other power structures might have incentivized inequality. Conversely, if the ancient society had gender bias, with males dominating the society, that bias was passed from generation to generation even if the institutions or power structures were attempting to promote gender equality.
Other cultures have followed a matriarchal social system. In a recent article from August 12, 2024, Angela Saini argues it’s not a man’s world. In the past or present, many societies have organized around mothers. The earliest matrilineal traditions are thought to have appeared thousands of years ago in some regions. In some matrilineal societies, women and men shared power. Western scholars have argued that large-scale societies, those that are war-like, or those that have resources that must be controlled (such as property or land) are patriarchal. These societies could only be dominated by men, with women overseeing the home. However, other scholars have stated that societies are complicated, and relying on such factors as “movable, transmissible wealth” as requiring or favoring a patriarchal society are unwarranted.
In the southern state of Kerala, India, the Nairs families lived in extended households dominated by women. The women were not dependent on their husbands, and they had the same sexual rights as men. Matriliny declined in Kerala, beginning in the 19th Century when Christian missionaries and the British arrived in the area. However, today remnants of matriliny may still be found in Kerala, and gender equality is more prevalent there than in other parts of India.
Although it appears to be a herculean task to change our society once a pattern has been established of gender inequality, working together, we are formidable.