The new Assassin's creed Odyssey game got me curious on how free the birthplace of western civilization Athens, really was for women. Could they work as soldiers, bakers, craftsman or where they made to stay home?
A simple answer would be that no they could not. Athenian women typically were always relegated to a domestic role in daily life. The Athenians were very conservative in regards to how they treated their women. Women were not allowed to be in public without male supervision nor allowed to attend plays at the amphitheater.
It was very taboo for Athenian women to interact with public life, even to the point that Athenian men would avoid even talking about their wives to men who were not relatives in order to protect their wives' virtue. However, an Athenian women would typically manage the domestic affairs of the household. She would be in charge of the slaves, and the daily management of the house; but the husband would have the final say even domestically if he disagreed with his wife. The only occurrences of an Athenian woman working out in the Agora would be if the family were extremely poor, and even this would be seen as great embarrassment for the husband or father. With that being said, Athenian women were extremely encouraged to take up the art of weaving, as she would be responsible for creating the clothes of her family, and the husband would frequently sell the works of his wife and daughters. Socrates famously told an Athenian man who had to care for several female relatives to "put the relatives to work making and selling clothes" to offset the cost of his care for them. Weaving also played a large role in an Athenian girl's religious life. A major festival called the Panathenaea featured an intricate woven cloth created by a couple of Athenian girls who were chosen for such an honor. The cloth would be draped over the statue of Athena on the Acropolis until the next festival.
For non-Athenian women living in Athens, lesser social constraints existed. Foreign women could market goods in the Agora without extreme social stigma. Female slaves also frequently went out in public running tasks for their masters such as getting water or delivering messages. Foreign women could also become Hetairai, high-class courtesans. This type of profession allowed foreign women to be rather economically successful and socially fluid. They often were companions of wealthy Athenian men and frequented symposiums with them. The most famous Hetaira was Aspasia, a woman who was the mistress of Pericles and mother of Pericles the Younger. Her home was famed for attracting the intellectual elite of Athens. Historians have argued about the political influence of Aspasia and how much she influenced Pericles decisions as Strategos. However, we cannot know what the Hetairai thought of their social position. They may have eagerly gave up their material wealth and social mobility in order to become an Athenian citizen and a domestic wife. One of the hardest parts of history is knowing what people thought and how they saw themselves in society.