Dealing with Athens, according to the literature, women were valued for not gossiping, for managing the household, and, most of all, for producing legitimate children. The aristocratic woman was secluded in the women's quarter and had to be accompanied in public places. She could own, but not sell property. The Athenian woman was subject to her father, and even after marriage, he could ask for her return. She was not a citizen.
The Roman woman was subject to the pater familias, whether the dominant male in her household of birth or the household of her husband. She could own and dispose of property and go about as she wished. From epigraphy, we read that a Roman woman was valued for piety, modesty, maintenance of harmony, and being a one-man woman. She could be a Roman citizen.
See Women and Property, Xenophon on Gender Roles, and Women of Rome.
