Introduction to Essay Series 2

Women have had varying opportunities to be leaders and entrepreneurs over time and place. In some early human societies, women were equal partners to men, and in others, they were the leaders. Ancient Greek and Roman societies considered women to be inferior and subordinate to men. These attitudes are at the root of similar European and American beliefs about the superiority of men.

Essay Series 2 provides brief summaries and examples of women’s changing roles in society from ancient times through the Renaissance. This history shows that men don’t always dominate women. Women have been leaders, warriors, and entrepreneurs. They have stepped up to manage farms, businesses, and factories in the absence of men during wartime, and thus gained temporary independence. Some women, like the Beguines, created their own independent communities during the Middle Ages, with some of those communities persisting for hundreds of years. Women have also suffered backlashes when they gained a measure of freedom. The backlash can be deadly, as in the case of the “witch trials,” which started in the Middle Ages and killed tens of thousands of people, most of whom were women.