There were very different roles for the genders in Ancient Greece, the men were ideally warriors and the women were child bearers. This was true for all periods, regardless of specific location or the diversity of the social and political structures that were found throughout the ancient Greek world. .
Women were treated very differently in the two major cities, that we have the most information for, in the Greek world, Sparta and Athens. Bearing children was the most important function of Spartan women as well as for Athenians, but since the state was constantly at war and the production of warriors was of highest priority this was were the emphasis lay in Sparta. Women were treated with a little more consideration in Sparta than they were in Athens. Politically and legally, the condition of women in classical Athens was one of inferiority. Women in Sparta were able to hold property under their own name and were able to manage this property as they pleased. Athenian women were perpetually under the guardianship of a man. This man would manage her properties and her money for her. This would be her father or next of kin until she got married, then her guardianship would pass to her husband. The Spartan girls were as well nourished as the boys whereas this was not the case in Athens. In Athens, their diet was strictly monitored. Especially in Athens, women were a perennial source of friction among men. The lawmaker Solon created laws to minimize this friction by keeping them out of sight and he also created laws that would limit their influence over a man. Athenian law of all periods tended to regard the wife as a veritable child, having the legal status of a minor in comparison to her husband.
As little girls Greek women learned the values of modesty, obedience, and restraint in the care of a nurse as she grew up in the women's quarters of the household. They were taught female tasks such as spinning wool and making cloth, which were a women's principal occupation throughout life, except for childbearing and care of the dead.
