Are there any sources describing what women in ancient patriarchal societies (like Greece, Rome, etc.) thought about the patriarchy? I've heard of feminist movements throughout history; this Britannica article mentions women barricading a Forum in Rome to overturn a sexist law. But do we know what any women actually thought of patriarchal laws?
Is it presentism to assume that ancient Greek women, for example, did not enjoy being unable to own property and wished they could?
While probably not representative of the "average" woman, there is recorded the view of a very remarkable woman named Aspasia, who lived during Greece's Golden Age. While a young woman, Aspasia immigrated with her aristocratic family to Athens from the Greek city of Miletus, now part of Turkey. She was married to Pericles and was famous for her intelligence, conversation skills, and skill at matchmaking.
Socrates, whom I consider the founder of Western civilization and likely the most intelligent human who ever lived, was a frequent visitor to Aspasia's house. He had high praise for her and learned from her the rhetorical skills that became part of the Socratic Method. It was his regard for her that led him to say, "Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior." (And, perhaps, it was her influence that accounts for Plato, Socrates' student, opening his lyceum 2,500 years ago, in the heart of the birthplace of the modern patriarchy, to female students.)
On her views of the patriarchy:
Aspasia, according to Socratic quotes, said, aristocratic Athenian women are prisoners of their homes and hence, limit their abilities becoming nothing more than mistresses in the truest sense, since all domestic work is performed by slaves and servants while the wives serve only as baby makers. Biography
