Throughout time, the role of women has been very overlooked. Women in history and today are still being viewed with an "old school" mentality. The image of the perfect housewife has always been stressed upon women. The general persona for women was and still is in some places; have 4 kids, maintain a good household, be a good wife, and raise the kids properly. Society has the idea that women shouldn't take on the roles of men. .
For example, for a woman to have a job and work alongside with men has only been accepted in society in the last fifty years or so. Men found it offensive that women were given the same opportunities in the work field. It hurt their pride to know that a woman was capable of matching his skills in his field of profession. In Antigone Creon said "better to fall from power, if we must, by a man's hand; then we could not be called weaker than a woman." This whole quote has to do with pride and is degrading women at the same time. It's saying that if a man must go down then it's best if another man took him down. Any other way would result in shame and the status of one less than a woman. .
The idea that women were or would never be equal to men in any way was imprinted in society. In general, women were never given too many rights as an individual. Women were always right under men, in the sense that they had to always ask for permission or have the consent of a man's approval before doing things. It wasn't considered lady-like to go beyond the set boundaries that come with being a woman and the thought of crossing them was almost never heard of. In Antigone, Antigone stepped over those boundaries, went against the king's word, and broke his law. She commited many acts that a regular woman would not have done or even thought about because the result was death. .
Women's rights have raised substantially over the last fifty or so years. To compare women of today and women of the past, women today are doing much more and have achieved a great deal in making themselves heard in this world.
