Businesswomen

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter explores the involvement of women in Roman business, and the legal and economic significance, implications, and complications thereof. According to Papinian, “[i]n many aspects of Roman Law the situation of women (was) inferior to that of men.” Conservative social values and juridical precepts tenaciously upheld the concept of male control over property. And yet, in practice, juridical reality accommodated the needs of women working in commerce. Roman commercial law even purported to be gender-blind: any right available to a male was in general automatically extended to a female, and in matters of “commercial law,” women seem largely to have enjoyed juridical equality. In fact, both free and enslaved women engaged in an enormous variety of elevated mercantile undertakings, including widespread participation as principals in financial transactions, as buyers and sellers of substantial real estate, and in the ownership and operation of maritime vessels. At Rome, uniquely in the ancient world, according to Gaius, adult women handled their business matters for themselves. Of some 2,500 imperial rescripts on private legal matters dating from 117 to 305 ce and preserved in the Codex, approximately a quarter (about 650) are addressed to female petitioners, and similar gender ratios are attested in other significant business categories.