SUMMATION
The condition of women: rights and restrictions
The third-century legal writer Papinian declared, “In many parts of our law the condition of women is below that of men.” [D.1.5.9] A catalog of the rights women had in Roman law, and the restrictions to which they were subject, bears out his statement:
1 In order to undertake many types of legal or business activities, a woman required the formal authorization of her tutor.
[Chapter 1, Part III]2 A woman could own property, but she could not alienate certain types of property without her tutors authorization. [Chapter 1, Part III]
3 A woman could contract a debt for herself, but she could not act as financial surety for the debt of another person. [Chapter 1, Part IV.D]
4 A woman could seek redress from local and imperial officials, in person or by sending a petition. She could go to court on her own behalf to pursue offenses against herself or members of her family. She could also appear as a witness in court in a case brought by someone else. But she could not represent others in court as an advocate, nor could she go to court on behalf of someone who was not a member of her family (even then, it was assumed that she would only pursue an offense against a family member if there were no male in the family available to do so). [Chapter 1, Part V]
style='font-size: 10.0pt'>5 A woman could loan money at interest to individuals, but she could not be a professional banker.
[Chapter 1, Part VI.B]6 A woman could express her support for political candidates, but she could not vote for them herself, nor could she hold public office at any level (except for some priesthoods). A wealthy woman was expected to use her wealth for civic obligations and expenditures, but was not expected to perform civic duties if they involved actual physical activity. [Chapter 1, Parts VI.B and C]
7 A woman needed the consent ff haer paterfamilias in order to make a valid marriage. Her consent to a marriage arranged by her father was likewise
THE CONDITION OF WOMEN
required, but unless she had valid reasons to object to a match, her consent was assumed. [Chapter 2]
8 In classical law, a woman could divorce her husband unilaterally (with her paterfamilias’ consent), but might forfeit part of her dowry. [Chapter 4]
9 Upon her husband's death, a woman was responsible for appointing a guardian (tutor) for her underage children (unless he had done so in his will), but until late antiquity, she could not herself serve as tutor to her children. [Chapter 5, Part II]
10 A woman could inherit in her own right, and female children had equal inheritance rights with male children under intestate succession. A woman could make a will, but only with her tutors authorization, and until Hadrian's reign, in order to make a valid will she had to go through the process of a mock sale of herself (coemptio).
Until the second century, her own children did not have intestate succession rights to her. [Chapter 5, Part I]Essentially, Roman law drew a distinction between actions a woman might undertake on her own behalf (which were allowed, though often subject to a tutor’s authorization), and actions she might undertake on behalf of another (which were generally not allowed). There was an aversion to women appearing in a prominent and professional role in public — holding office, speaking in court as an advocate, being a banker, etc. Certain public roles and responsibilities were considered “men's business” and inappropriate for women. This attitude toward different gender roles was deeply ingrained in ancient culture, even when it was known that individual women (and men) did not always abide by their societally assigned roles.