Oppression Of Women In Plato's Republic

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Pages: 5

Plato’s Republic, a philosophical work pertaining to the creation of a fictionalized city in order to resolve certain questions about human virtue and justice through the voice of Socrates, was groundbreaking during the time of the Ancient Greeks. Still today, many of his ideas are seen as radical in the context of modern society. One specific example of this disparity is in the role that women play in the Plato’s city. Women in the Republic hold the same standing as men – an concempt that has not be realized even today. 1,000 years prior to the publication of the Republic, Hammurabi’s Laws portray women in Mesopotamia in a way that is much more familiar to the modern world, as well as to Plato’s own people. However, despite the seemingly progressive nature of Plato’s stance on social equality of the sexes, his ideas stem from the need to survive and to place the good of the city above all else. Furthermore, though he does, in theory, treat women as equals to their men, he denounces many traits that define the female gender rather than recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of both masculinity and femininity. Though the result of this line of thought leads to a seemingly radical society, the …show more content…
As a result, the woman would be able to support herself without her husband. However, women were still under the authority of a man at all points in their life. There were exceptions to this idea. One such exception are the Nad’itu. The Nad’itu were generally independent and live outside of the typical patriarchal dynamic of the time. These women were not very common, however, and held a very specific position in society. Even still, these women were not immune from the various inequalities of their civilization. It is still important to recognize the nuances of Ancient Mesopotamian society, just as with Plato’s