The change in upper-class women’s social status between the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire

Abstract

The paper focuses on the history of suffragists at the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire. As the wave of supporting equal female rights in the modern world is becoming increasingly popular, this research will help explain women’s fighting history for their rights, especially during the political shock period. It would also let us see how the pioneer of female freedom began with the long road. The upper-class Roman women used different ways to get more political and economic rights in front of the patriarchal society. The development in female rights also pushed the status of women onto a higher level in Roman Empire, both in political areas and daily life. However, due to the limitation of the era and lack of support from the mass, no significant success was achieved. Though the women at that time failed to take a completely equal position with men, they still built up the base of modern suffragists.