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ROMAN WOMEN-MARRIAGE/CHILDREN
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The main focus of the Roman woman was marrying and having children. This was enforced by legislation from a male dominated warrior society. Women usually married between the ages of twelve and fifteen years old and immediately began having children. Many women died in childbirth, even though they were attended by midwives. The average life expectancy of the males of the Roman Empire was twenty five years old, while the females could expect to life five to ten years less than that due to poor health caused by an inferior diet and frequent pregnancies. Women were not allowed to be elected to political office, vote or even participate in some public events, but this did preclude women from having a great deal of influence on the daily life of the males in her family. Women were allowed to work in professions as midwives, actresses, writers, domestics, hairdressers, physicians, seamstresses and vendors among other professions. Many women from aristocratic upper class families amassed significant financial resources, which they used to advance their family in political or social circles. Many matrona, married women, backed their son's political careers, arranged advantageous marriages for their daughters and increased their personal land holdings, as well as maintaining and decorating the family domus. Children were the responsibility of the matrona although the paterfamilias or head of the household had total control over life and death in the domus. When a child was born, the matrona laid the child at the feet of the husband. If the husband picked the child up, the baby became part of the family. If the husband did not lift the child, it was abandoned or killed. The most frequently abandoned children were females. In most cases only the elder daughter was kept in the family, however many of the female babies were recovered to be sold as slaves or prostitutes. |
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