Limitations of the Involvement of Women in the Roman Public Life, during the Republic
Limitations of the Involvement of Women in the Roman Public Life, during the Republic

Summary/Abstract: During the Republican period, Roman women, irrespective of the social category to which they belonged, could involve in the public life only within some definite confines. They had the right of intercessio, they could actively participate in the religious procedings of some particular cults and they could defend themselves in the court. The Roman laws deprived women of potestas upon their children; moreover, women were not allowed to sue anyone on behalf of their children or to represent their children in the court. The judiciary writings justified all these limitations not through an alleged lack of discerning capacities of the women, but through an appeal to tradition. During the Republic, the women that acted in the Roman public life were frequently accused of abusively occupying positions reserved only to men, such as lawyer or banker.

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