Women in power

• Democracy


  A form of government whereby the power to make decisions is in the hands of the people/the majority, rather than in an individual or ruling class/the minority
• Democracy


  Comes from two Greek words: demos (the people) and cracy (strength/rule)
• Republic


  A system of government where there is no monarch
• Qualities required to vote in Roman elections


  • Adult
  • Free
  • Citizen
  • Wealthy
• Roman Senate


  Rome's central governing body, formed of men, the majority advanced in years, old
• Becoming a Roman senator


  Hold an elective position
• Choosing Roman magistrates each year


  The people of Rome would vote for the next year's magistrates
• Roles of Roman magistrates

  • Quaestor (managed Rome's finances)
  • Aedile (oversaw public services)
  • Praetor (ran law courts)
  • Consul (co-heads of state, in charge of military and political relations, passed laws)
• Athens had a direct democracy where all political decisions were voted on by the whole voting public
• Rome had a representational democracy where the voting public voted each year to elect magistrates who made decisions
• Roman voting system


  • Voting was done in community units, with the majority of votes within one unit counting as the outcome of that unit
  • Wealthier classes had smaller voting units, meaning each individual vote carried more weight
• Verbal vs. secret voting

  • When first established, voting in Rome was done in public and votes cast orally (people would speak their votes out loud)
  • Later voting became secret
• Rome had a representational democracy
• Voting in the Roman Republic

  1. The voting public voted each year to elect magistrates who worked in government, making decisions that served the needs of the public

  2. The voting public would sometimes vote on whether or not to pass a new law
• Voting system in the Roman Republic

  • The Romans didn't have a "one-citizen one-vote" system, but voted in community units, with each unit having one vote
  • The majority of votes within one unit counted as the outcome of that unit
  • The candidate who had most units voting in their favour would win the election
  • The wealthier classes had smaller voting units, meaning that each individual vote carried more weight
• Verbal vs. Secret Voting

  When first established, voting in Rome was done in public and votes cast orally (people would speak their votes out loud, in front of the rest of the voters)
• What could the problem be with the public and oral voting system in Rome? Bribery and money influences on power
• Roman women had money as a result of dowries and marriages
• Roman women having money

  They could use it for bribery to impact elections
• Roman women being influential

  They could impact meetings of the Senate by conveying ideas to their husbands which could be mentioned in meetings
• Agnodice was a woman in Athens who practiced medicine, which was illegal for women at the time
• Agnodice trained in medicine in Alexandria, Egypt before returning to Athens to practice
• Agnodice had to disguise herself as a man to practice medicine in Athens
• Agnodice became very popular with Athenian women as a doctor, which made the male doctors jealous
• The male doctors accused Agnodice of practicing medicine illegally and of having affairs with her female patients
• Agnodice was put on trial, but was acquitted after many Athenian women protested on her behalf
• The trial of Agnodice led to a change in the law to allow women to practice medicine and midwifery in Athens
• The story of Agnodice may have been a legend, as the evidence for it was written long after the supposed events
• The story of Agnodice suggests that Athenian men saw women as lustful and assumed Agnodice was having affairs with her patients
• The story shows that when Athenian women came together in protest, they were able to change the minds of the men, even though women had little political power individually