Women have faced discrimination and unequal treatment throughout history. In prehistoric times, women held prominent social roles but their status declined in ancient Greece and Rome where they were legally subjugated to men. During the Middle Ages, some women exercised power through regency or positions in the church. The Enlightenment advanced ideas of women's equal intellectual capacity and rights to education. The 19th century saw women's rights movements advocating for suffrage and equal opportunities in work and politics. Today, while legal equality exists, women still face barriers such as lower pay and underrepresentation in leadership positions. Statistics show women make up most of the workforce but hold just 15-40% of political offices across Europe.

1. The woman over the centuries
Chalvadaki Katerina
2nd LTTA, Pilsen, 25-29/09/2017, GENIKO LYKEIO VAMOU

2. Introduction
Women have been and still are victims of public and
private violence on a global scale.
Female exploitation and abuse owes its existence to the
society itself.
Therefore, the fight against female racism is also a
struggle against the conditions that create it.

3. In the Prehistoric period
The woman predominates in the social sphere.
She had a dominant position in the family but also in the education
and upbringing of children.
It was the time when the institution of matriarchy flourished.
The woman was worshiped as a goddess-mother and as the
goddess of fertility.
The children took the mother's name.
Τhe daughters inherited the family property.

5. Minoan and Mycenaean Era
 Women have a very good position.
 They socialized freely with men.
 Monogamy prevail. The woman can choose her husband.
 The marriage is sacred and insoluble.

6. In Ancient Babylon In Ancient Egypt
 A Babylonian written memo
contains provisions on
marriage, women's property,
divorce, etc., which showes that
there was protection against
abuse, exploitation and other
defalcation.
 Women could offer services as
judges, protesters, witnesses to
courts and scrivener.
 In Egypt, things were even
better and a woman was often
head of the state.

7. Marriage bargaining in Babylon

8. In classic Athens
 Women had to take care of the house and the children while the rich
were responsible for the slaves.
 Women did not participate in public life.
 Women had not the right to develop their personality and claim a
position in society beyond the position of mother and husband.
 They were under the authority of their husband or first-born son or
one of his brothers or uncles after the death of their husband.

10. In the ancient Sparta
 Women were almost equal to men.
 They participated freely in public life and sports.
 They married the man they would love.
 They could express their opinion on political and public affairs.

11. In the Roman period
 The woman was subjected to the authority first of her father or
brother and then of her husband.
 She did not have the legal capacity to sign contracts or wills, or to
deposit as a witness in court and exercise a public office.
 But the situation was quickly improved.
 Roman history presents a multitude of women who have distinguished
for their intelligence and their involvement in political intrigues.

13. In Byzantium
 The poor women worked hard
at home and in the inferior
external jobs.
 The rich women had a profound
secular life. They could even
become empress.
 Rich women could get private
education.

14. The woman in the Middle Ages
Woman and domination
 They exercise royal power when
their husband was absent or ill.
 Women assumed the regency until
her son become adult.
 Many others took power without
the coincidence of the above.

15. The woman in the Middle Ages
Women and civil rights
 When a man is unable to represent
the family because of absence or
illness or death, then the family was
represented by the woman.

16. The woman in the Middle Ages
Woman and church
 The Medieval Church did not
hesitate to assign to women
positions of responsibility with
political and economic power.
 The abbot of the monks exercise
authority and often manage vast
property.

17. Conclusion
It is therefore easy to conclude that
although the average modern man is
convinced that in the Middle Ages
women lived in conditions of total
misery, oppressed by authoritarian and
violent husbands, feudal lords, and by
the Church which considers them to be
the symbols of sin, this is not entirely
based on the truth, without of course
excluding cases of torture and
miserable behavior in the female sex.

18. The woman in enlightenment
The contribution of enlightened men
The role of woman in the family was to transfer the spiritual values to the
next generation. But how would she do this properly without the required
education?
The Enlightened proposed:
 Diderot: men and women do not differ, although some characteristics are
more likely to be found in one of the two genders.
 Voltaire: women at a spiritual level can achieve what men can achieve.
 Condorcet: women are equal in politics and education.

19. Condorcet Voltaire Diderot

20. The woman in enlightenment
The contribution of the first enlightened women.
 In France, Olympe des Gouges claimed women's rights to education and
politics, causing her decapitation by Robespierro.
 In England, Mary Wollstonecraft raised the question of whether rationality
was only characteristic of men, thereby confute the basic principle of
enlightenment. The Enlighteners then agreed to the education of the woman.
 In England at that time female fiction writers had overcome numerically men
and had even surpassed them in some fictional categories.

21. Mary Wollstonecraft Olympe des Gouges

22. 19th-century women's struggles and
movements

23. The woman in the industrial revolution
The technological explosion and the
participation of women in work gave the
women the opportunity to:
 Begin activate as a person and separate from
the family unit.
 To claim rights such as that of vote.
 To claim rights for a multifaceted and
integrated education.

24. The women today
The position of the woman in our
time has improved so that the
impression that gender equality is
now a reality. However, in this general
climate of euphoria, there are voices
that claim that women are still
exploited and as mothers and
housewives, that society is still male
dominated, and therefore equality
has remained on theoretical plan,
never happened.

25. The women today
Despite the announcements, official studies show that today the
woman does not have the social position she deserves.
In Europe, for example, about 40% of the workforce is women with an
average income of 60% less than men's income. In politics, their
participation in government positions varies between 15% and within
the family, as a rule, they prioritize the spouse's professional career.

26. The women today
Other examples
 The stint of women in traditionally male-dominated places is only a few decades.
In the next stag they have limited presence and influence.
 The combination of a professional career with maternity and family creates an
unbearable burden, both physically and psychologically, for women (clash of roles).
 Lack of self-confidence leads women with substantial and formal qualifications to
resign from master positions.
 The long-standing social inferiority of woman has consolidated into the
consciousness of people stereotypical notions, unfavorable to the female sex.

27. Statistics on female representation in national and
European Parliaments

28. Sources
1. http://lyk-
zefyr.att.sch.gr/Projects/HumanRights/Wo
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4. http://lyk-skalas.att.sch.gr/Woman.htm
5. http://3gym-
petroup.att.sch.gr/oldsite/gynaika.htm
6. https://womenaidhalandri.wordpress.com/2
014/02/06/182/