Occidental culture is based on the connection of symbols and ideas fed by religious sources and the philosophy that was formed in ancient Greece. During the phase in which mankind contrived extensive systems of symbols for explaining the world (religion, science, philosophy), women were already so deprived that they could no longer actively partake in these advancements. One of the reasons why the low status of women was cemented in this explanatory system can be seen in this. Two constructs were created: "the male" and "the female". This are different in their tasks, capabilities and potentials. They served later generations as a reason for maintaining the "status quo", which appeared to them as either being "born of nature" or "God's wish".

The Position of Women in Ancient Philosophy

Most ancient philosophies justify social and legal inequality with the subordination of the individual to the common good and with the unequal distribution of talents and capabilities. The woman is considered as a lesser being "by nature".

The example of Aristotle: In his eyes, citizens are only those who are freed of domestic and reproduction tasks. Slaves, foreigners, women and children are forbidden to take part in political life, since they do not possess the necessary prerequisites. They functions as aids for creating the necessary determining factors for the elite of full citizens.

For Aristotle, women are a disfigurement of nature created as a result of defective procreation, a kind of deficitary preliminary step towards man. They possess neither intelligence nor reproductive capabilities. They merely maintain a passive, complementary role in relation to both: "Just as a cripple is sometimes born of a cripple, as is a non-cripple, a female is sometimes born of a female, but also a male instead sometimes. A female is a crippled male, and her menstruation is semen, but not pure semen. Since there is one thing missing to her, the source of life... because this source of life is the deliverer of man's semen."

The Position of Women in Monotheistic Religions

The development of monotheism, the concept of one god, is valued in general as the development of mankind towards abstract thinking. This process took place under the banner of patriarchy, so that the symbols of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim world of concepts assigned a subordinate role to women.

According to the creation story in the Bible, God created the world and man with his breath, and woman from man's rib. The power of creation is spiritual and relates to man, who, in the Bible, is also attributed with the ability to abstract, in that he lends plants, animals and women names. Man is made in the likeness of God, woman is "different". What remains unexplained is whether woman is a "real" person, because she was not filled with God's breath. The woman is companion and aide to the man.

Another story important in this relation is the representation of Original Sin. Eve leads Adam into temptation by offering him an apple from the Tree of Knowledge while being encouraged by the serpent. She causes man's fall from grace in the eyes of God as a result. That means that the woman is more full of sin than the man. The woman is a symbol of sexuality and therefore sin. The subordination of the woman to the man is the wish of God as a result of "Original Sin".
"This contained the allusion for Adam that he should see in his companion a mirror of himself, and for Eve the warning that she should willingly subjugate herself to the man from whom she originated.
[Johannes Calvin]

[Author: Dorette Wesemann, Edited by: Ragnar Müller]

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