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In ancient Athens, women had no legal personhood and were assumed to be part of the oikos headed by the male kyrios. Until marriage, women were under the guardianship of their fathers or other male relatives; once married, the husband became a woman’s kyrios. While the average age to get married for men was around 30, the average age for women was 14. This system was implemented as a way to ensure that girls were still virgins when they wed; it also made it possible for husbands to choose who their wife’s next husband was going to be before he died. As women were barred from conducting legal proceedings, the kyrios would do so on their behalf. id=Xfx1VaSIOgQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=women+ancient+greece#v=onepage&q=women%20athens&f=false| isbn = 978-0-674-95473-1}}</ref> Athenian women had limited right to property and therefore were not considered full citizens, as citizenship and the entitlement to civil and political rights was defined in relation to property and the means to life. However, women could acquire rights over property through gifts, dowry and inheritance, though her kyrios had the right to dispose of a woman’s property. Athenian women could enter into a contract worth less than the value of a “medimnos of barley” (a measure of grain), allowing women to engage in petty trading. Slaves, like women, were not eligible for full citizenship in ancient Athens, though in rare circumstances they could become citizens if freed. The only permanent barrier to citizenship, and hence full political and civil rights, in ancient Athens was gender. No women ever acquired citizenship in ancient Athens, and therefore women were excluded in principle and practice from ancient Athenian democracy.

Despite the harsh limits on Women's freedoms and rights in ancient Greece, their rights in context of divorce were fairly liberal. Marriage could be terminated by mutual consent or action taken by either spouse. If a woman wanted to terminate her marriage, she needed the help of her father or other male relative to represent her, because as a woman she was not considered a citizen of Greece. If a man wanted a divorce however, all he had to do was kick his spouse out of his house. A woman’s father also had the right to end the marriage. In the instance of a divorce, the dowry was returned to the woman’s guardian (who was usually her father) and she had the right to retain ½ of the goods she had produced while in the marriage. If the couple had children, divorce resulted in paternal full custody, as children are seen as belonging to his household. While the laws regarding divorce may seem relatively fair considering how little control women had over most aspects of their lives in ancient Greece, women were unlikely to divorce their husbands because of the damage it would do to her reputation. As women were barred from conducting legal proceedings, the kyrios would do so on their behalf.

Education

In ancient Greek society, education was considered to encompass cultural training in addition to formal schooling. Young Greek children, both boys and girls alike, were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by a litterator (the equivalent to a modern elementary school teacher). If a family did not have the financial ability to provide further education, boys would begin working for the family business or train as an apprentice, while girls were expected to stay home and help their mother’s manage the household. If a family did the money to continue their children’s education, parents could choose to continue to educate their daughters as well as their sons. This next level of schooling included learning how to speak correctly and interpret poetry, and was taught by a Grammaticus. Music, history, mythology, religion, art, astronomy, philosophy, and history were all taught as segments of this level of education.