Sarah Schultz

WGST 114

February 19, 2002

Who Controls the Private Sphere?

Abstract: Texts, such as Oeconomicus, reveal that while men in Archaic Greek society had authority over their wives, they were too confident of their control, and once they taught women how to act and behave they granted women authority over the household or private sphere. This segregation of the public and private spheres allowed women control not only over the private sphere, but also some control over her own life.

Did women in Archaic Greek society have control over their lives? Today, many would argue that women did not have control, but rather their fathers and husbands controlled them. However, when looking closely at Greek texts, such as Xenophon’s Oeconomicus, one discovers that husbands were so confident of their control that once women were taught how to manage the household they granted women complete authority over the decisions made in the private sphere. Although men still had authority over women, the segregation of public and private spheres gave wives some control over their lives.

Initially, when a girl was married, her husband had complete control over her life. A man’s bride was usually a very young girl who was considered an empty vessel because she had no knowledge about how to behave or manage a household. During a conversation in Oeconomicus between Socrates and Kritoboulos, Socrates asked, "Did you marry her when she was a very young girl and had seen and heard as little as possible" (16)? Since girls did not come to a man’s household with any knowledge it was the husband’s job to only fill her vessel with the knowledge that he wanted her to know. In this way, men believed that they had control over their wives’ lives.

Although men felt that they had control over their wives’ lives, it seems unlikely that women came to their husbands without any knowledge about how to manage the household. No matter how sheltered a girl was raised she still must have picked up skills from her mother. Therefore, it is safe to assume that girls were deceiving their husbands about the skills they knew and were simply putting on an act of naivete so their husbands believed they were in control.

When a woman first married, she had no control over her life, but if she successfully ran a household to her husband’s liking he became confident that he was in control and granted her freedom to make the decisions in the private sphere. Ischomachos argued that, "Know well, my wife still arranges her life as I taught her then and as I tell you now" (46). In this statement Ischomachos naturally assumes that his wife is still following his orders, and it does not occur to him that she could be making her own decisions on how to run the household in his absence. When a man’s wife successfully ran the household the husband took credit for teaching her properly, and the degree of trust a husband had when his wife was performing her duties well allowed women to have more control over the decisions made in the household. Ischomachos supported this argument when he said to his wife:

...If you look to be better than I and make me your servant, you will have no need to fear that with advancing age you will be honored any less in the household, and you may trust that as you grow older, the better a partner you prove to be for me, and for the children the better a guardian of the household, by so much more will you be honored in the household (35-36).

A strong ability to run the household meant that a husband lessened his control over his wife because if the household was successful a man would be more confident that he was controlling his wife’s actions. Ischomachos stated, "I never spend time indoors. Indeed, my wife is quite able by herself to manage the things within the house" (29). Kritoboulos also supported this when Socrates said, "Is there anyone to whom you entrust more serious matters than to your wife" (15)? As a woman performed her duties in the household successfully she gained her husband’s trust, and as a result he granted her more freedom and control over her own life.

Once a man felt confident that he had control over his wife he left all the responsibilities of the household or the private sphere in her control and concentrated his energy to affairs in the public sphere. This caused men and women to be segregated into private and public spheres where each spouse had the responsibility to perform the duties in their separate sphere. This segregation created a balance between the two spheres, and if both partners were working hard the entire household would flourish. Kritoboulos described this balance as:

... Possessions usually come into the house through the man’s actions, they are expended for the most part in the course of the woman’s housekeeping; and when these things turn out well, the households increase, but when done badly, the households diminish (16).

In this way each spouse’s work complimented the other. Ischomachos explained it to his wife in this way, "...the gods have used great consideration in joining together the pair called male and female so that it may be of the greatest benefit to itself in it’s community (31-32). Therefore, men were created to work in the public sphere for the good of the household, and women were meant to work in the private.

The gods created women and men to compliment each other, and Ischomachos argued that blending public and private spheres together would cause disorder to the household. He stated, "But when someone acts in a way contrary to what the god has brought forth, perhaps in causing some disorder he is noticed by the gods and pays the penalty for neglecting his own works or for doing the woman’s works" (34). This passage suggested that men did not and were not allowed to assist the woman in her duties of the private sphere. Since men could not interfere with a woman’s duties in the private sphere, women were able to exercise control over such responsibilities as raising children. This was an important sense of control for women because they were molding the bodies and minds of the future generation. As a result the segregation of the spheres created a power structure where the woman had control over the private sphere.

Although many Archaic Greek texts portray women as having little or no voice in the public sphere it is quite apparent that women had authority over the decisions made in the household. Another example, which supported this argument, was the control a woman had over the servants and slaves in her household. It was up to the woman to manage the duties of the servants and slaves, and she was even responsible for the way they acted and behaved. Ischomachos used many examples in his conversation to Socrates on what a woman’s duty is in order to manage the servants properly. He said, "...whenever any of the servants become ill, it must be your concern that all be attended..." (34). This example suggested that women had a lot of control and responsibility over what went on with servants in their households.

Ischomachos compared the duties of women to queen bees in a hive. A woman was the manager in the home, and she ruled over the servants and slaves making sure that the household was running efficiently. He stated:

In that she remains in the hive...and doesn’t let the bees be inactive but sends them to the work whenever some are needed to work outside; she knows what each of them brings in, receives it, and keeps it secure until it is needed for use. When the season for using it comes around, she distributes to each what is just. She also has charge of the weaving of the cells inside, to see that they are finely and quickly woven, and when the offspring are born, she is concerned with their nourishment; and once the young are fully grown and able to work, she sends them out as a colony, with one of them as a leader (34).

This analogy suggested that the woman made all the decisions over what went on in the household and had complete authority over how the children were raised and the actions of the servants. This indicated that she had a great degree of control over the decisions made in the household.

Texts, such as Xenophon’s Oeconomicus, revealed that while men believed they had complete control over their wives, this was not really the case. In the beginning of a marriage women were under the control of their husbands, but after their husbands taught them the proper way to run a household, and they successfully did so they had complete control over the decisions made in the private sphere. Men believed that women were under their control because their wives were taught how to make decisions based on their husband’s teachings. If a woman successfully managed the household, her husband trusted her and went back to his duties in the public sphere. This left all the duties in the private sphere to the woman, and she was then able to make all her own decisions. This allowed her a sense of control over her life.