During the time of the Ancient Greeks there was a very different attitude towards the role of women compared to what we are accustom to today. Women were regarded as less than equal to men and were afforded responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning, and birthing children. The overall female role in society was subservient. With the formation of certain policies, Plato revolutionized the role of women in society, providing them with more authority. The following report will examine the structure of society during the time of Plato's Republic. It will also focus on Plato's advocacy of the feminist theory, while critiquing the thought that he was a modern day feminist.
The fifth book of Plato's Republic contains conversation between Glaucon and Socrates surrounding the well being of the state and the idea that increased female participation can improve the general attributes of society. Plato introduces the thought that temperament, physical and mental proficiencies should be the factors focused on while assigning individuals to professions in an exemplary community. ".For people born and educated as we have described, then, there is, I believe, no correct way to acquire and employ children and women other than to follow the path on which we first set them." (Plato, Republic, 451c) Plato then analyses female characteristics and reaches a conclusion that apart from physical differences, the two sexes are inherently similar. Socrates states, "Then, my friend, there is no pursuit relevant to the management of the city that belongs to woman because she is a woman, or to a man because he is a man; but the various natural capacities are distributed in a similar way between both creatures, and women can share by nature in every pursuit, and men in every one" (Plato, Republic, 455d). Plato makes a point that the physical differences are obvious however; the intellectual capacity is the same by nature.