The situation for women between Pagan Rome and Christian Rome did not really see that much of a noticeable change. Certainly, women did not enjoy an equal status of men--or anywhere close to it--through either religion. Christianity, thanks mostly to Paul the Apostle's letters, shared the view of women as being inferior just as much as the pagans before him did. Though religions may have switched in a relatively short period of time, pagan culture would continue to influence Christianity until...Well, it still does. I'll go into some details about the life of women both in Pagan Rome and during the Byzantine Empire:

In "A History of Private Life", noblewomen

never go out without maids, companions..., and a mounted servant known as a custos, often mentioned by erotic poets. This prison, which followed a woman everywhere, was the Roman equivalent of the gynecaeum, or monogamous harem, in which a Greek woman concerned for her reputation insisted that her husband lock her up during the night...In any case, old fashioned women proved their modesty by going out as little as possible and never showing themselves in public without a partial veil.

Now, these seem to be very limiting social factors to women in the Roman Empire--but, if we look at the status of these women of upper society in the Christian Byzantine Empire, we can find much of the same treatment.

An illustration in Scylitzes' Chronicle shows that women, or at any rate one wealthy widow, traveled with a whole entourage--she is carried on a litter and surrounded by servants--suggesting that wealthy women who left home took the entire gynaeceum with them... Women and girls were kept strictly segregated from the Outside World.

He [Cecaumenus at the end of the eleventh century] was vehemently opposed to allowing guests to sit at the same table with the women of the family; as proof that women should be served apart, he tells of a wife seduced and a husband deceived. Honor is of a paramount concern.

Cecaumenus goes on to describe that women should always be kept under lock and key. Not a very different attitude than that of the pagans centuries prior. In fact, for the Byzantines,

The presence of a woman at [a drinking bout] was grounds for her husband to sue for divorce

Now, pagan influences were oftentimes worked into the Christian kingdoms--especially in the Western Roman Empire. The Salic Law, for example, would prevent women from inheriting in the West (and cause the crowning of Charlemagne as Roman Emperor while the Empress Irene ruled in the East).

None of this is to say that women enjoyed NO rights. Keep in mind, the Salic law in the West came from the Franks and not the Romans. In constast to the Christian Empire that emerged after the fall of Rome, in Pagan times

Women were the equals of men insofar as the laws of inheritance were concerned, and they had the same right to make a will. Brides also had their dowries. Some women, nobler and wealtheir than their husbands, refused to submit to their authority. Some played important political roles because, along with their patrimony, they inherited their lineage's hereditary clienteles.

Another tidbit under Roman law about not being allowed to testify:

In theory, no Roman woman could take a case to court without a male representative (although this rule of law was honored mainly in the breach). A non-Roman inhabitant of the Empire, a Greek or Egyptian woman, say, had even less right to take her case to court. Yet, the papyri tell us that many such women went to court anyway. What was the rule? We are obliged to admit that there was none. And we discover, too, that many Roman women chose male representatives even though it was not strictly necessary. Although there was no rule, there were elegant, or perhaps pedantic, ways of going about things.

Hopefully this provides some insight, although brief, into the roles of women during the two religions of Rome. It is my belief that things really showed no marked improvement between them for the status of women--and that perhaps there was even a small decrease of prestige. Christian or Pagan, individual women often proved strength beyond what was expected of them in any years and rose to prominent positions of influence and power. The reason we know so much less of their individual stories, however, is that histories and biographies focused solely on the men. This leaves us with tantalizing little information about some amazing historical figures, who we only see through the lens of their husband.

You also may notice that I focused my explanation mostly on noblewomen, and not on peasants and farmers. Lifestyles for the poor and rural were very different from those in the center of society, and probably impacted far less from any religious or political change.