VI. Gender

Abstract

Historians and anthropologists use the term ‘gender’ to denote the social meanings and cultural constructions of femininity and masculinity instead of the physical connotations of sex. Although anthropologists have also done some work on concepts of masculinity, recent studies of Greek religion have mainly analysed positions and representations of women, in so far as they have focused on gender differences at all. We will therefore first look at some elements of the female life cycle and daily life (§ 1), then look at representations of women in art and myth and at goddesses as possible role models (§ 2), and conclude with a discussion of the most important women’s festivals (§ 3).