This document discusses different attitudes towards gender throughout history and across societies and religions. It notes that in prehistoric times, societies were often matriarchal with women holding dominant positions. As agriculture developed, roles shifted with men taking on tasks like protection and hunting while women cared for children and the home. These roles shaped physical and cognitive gender differences. Religions like Christianity and Islam are described as patriarchal, viewing women as inferior, while some indigenous religions had more balanced gender representations. Overall, the document examines how conceptions of gender have evolved from prehistory to today across cultures and civilizations.

1. DIFFERENT
ATTITUDES TOWARDS GENDERS

2.  The different roles of men and women did not arise
arbitrarily. They relied on the role of each gender, male
and female, from the birth of human existence to the
present day.
 The conception about men and women remains in all
societies an asymmetric system as one sex is considered
inferior to the other and this is always the female one.

3. Μatriarchy (prehistoric period)
 Prior to the appearance of the plow, the woman was the leader in the
family. It was the time when the institution of matriarchy flourished.
 Dominant characteristics of matriarchy were gynecocracy and the worship
of the Mother Goddess.
 Women hold the dominant position in society and in the family.
 The woman is the leader of the genus.
 The inheritance rights are transferred to the female members of each
family.

4. Historical Evolution
 Men historically had to protect the family and ensure the food for the family.
 Women had to raise children and take care of the family.

5.  These very facts affected the evolution of both their brain and their body.
 So, today we know that the two genders process the information in a
different way.
 Men and women think differently. They also have different perceptions,
priorities and exhibit different behavior.

6. Religion and civilizations
 In Christianity, which is considered to be essentially male and patriarchal,
texts, leaders, and ceremonies refer to men, while women are used as
examples to avoid or which exhibit deviant behaviors (eg Mary
Magdalene as a prostitute).
 Additionally, women are considered weak, and thus unsuitable for high-
ranking religion offices.
 The incarnation of Our Lady as a mother is probably the most positive
image for women. The decorative adjectives used to appeal to the Virgin
are equivalent to the virtues that a woman must gather.

7. Mosque exclusively for women in Lebanon.
In Islam, women are considered inferior to men.
The only field in which they are equated with men, is the prayer.
They have the same religious duties, but they have to pray in different places
from men.

8. In Hinduism most of the deities are of dubious
gender, they are presented in conflicting ways:
on the one hand, female fertility is honored and
praised,
and on the other hand female sexuality is
rendered dangerous.

9. Katerina Zouli