Editing Minoan civilization (section)

=== Status of women ===
[[File:Knossos women fresco.jpg|thumb|A depiction of elite Minoan women]]

As [[Linear A]] Minoan writing has not been deciphered yet, most information available about Minoan women is from various art forms and [[Linear B]] tablets,<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Budin|first=Stephanie Lynn|editor1-first=Stephanie Lynn|editor1-last=Budin|editor2-first=Jean Macintosh|editor2-last=Turfa|date=2016-08-12|title=Women in Antiquity|doi=10.4324/9781315621425|isbn=9781315621425}}</ref> and scholarship about Minoan women remains limited.<ref name=":3" />

Minoan society was a divided society separating men from women in art illustration, clothing, and societal duties.<ref name=":3" /> For example, documents written in Linear B have been found documenting Minoan families, wherein spouses and children are not all listed together.<ref name=":2" /> In one section, fathers were listed with their sons, while mothers were listed with their daughters in a completely different section apart from the men who lived in the same household, signifying the vast gender divide present in Minoan society.<ref name=":2" />

Artistically, women were portrayed very differently from men. Men were often artistically represented with dark skin while women were represented with lighter skin.<ref name="Lee2000">{{Citation |last=Lee |first=Mireille M. |editor1-first=Alison E |editor1-last=Rautman |chapter=9. Deciphering Gender in Minoan Dress |year=2000 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9781512806830 |doi=10.9783/9781512806830-011 |title=Reading the Body |pages=111–123}}</ref> Minoan dress representation also clearly marks the difference between men and women. Minoan men were often depicted clad in little clothing while women's bodies, specifically later on, were more covered up. While there is evidence that the structure of women's clothing originated as a mirror to the clothing that men wore, fresco art illustrates how women's clothing evolved to be increasingly elaborate throughout the Minoan era.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Myres |first=John L. |date=January 1950 |title=1. Minoan Dress |journal=Man |volume=50 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.2307/2792547 |jstor=2792547}}</ref> Throughout the evolution of women's clothing, a strong emphasis was placed on the women's sexual characteristics, particularly the breasts.<ref name="Lee2000"/> Female clothing throughout the Minoan era emphasized the breasts by exposing cleavage or even the entire breast. Both Minoan women and men were portrayed with "wasp" waists, similar to the modern bodice women continue to wear today.<ref name=":2" />
[[File:Wall painting of two ladies and papyrus plants from Akrotiri (house of the ladies) - Thera MPT - 04.jpg|thumb|180px|Wall painting from [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]]]]
[[Fresco]] paintings portray three class levels of women: elite women, women of the masses, and servants.<ref name=":2" /> A fourth, smaller class of women who participated in religious and sacred tasks are also included among some paintings.<ref name=":2" /> Elite women were depicted in paintings as having a stature twice the size of women in lower classes, as this was a way of emphasizing the important difference between the elite wealthy women and the rest of the female population within society.<ref name=":2" />

Childcare was a central job for women within Minoan society.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Olsen |first=Barbara A. |date=February 1998 |title=Women, children and the family in the Late Aegean Bronze Age: Differences in Minoan and Mycenaean constructions of gender |journal=World Archaeology |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=380–392 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1998.9980386 |issn=0043-8243}}</ref> Other roles outside the household that have been identified as women's duties are food gathering, food preparation, and household care-taking.<ref name=":4">{{Citation |last=Nikolaïdou |first=Marianna |chapter=Looking for Minoan and Mycenaean Women |date=2012 |pages=38–53 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |isbn=9781444355024 |doi=10.1002/9781444355024.ch3 |title=A Companion to Women in the Ancient World}}</ref> Additionally, it has been found that women were represented in the artisan world as ceramic and textile craftswomen.<ref name=":4" /> As women got older it can be assumed that their job of taking care of children ended and they transitioned towards household management and job mentoring, teaching younger women the jobs that they themselves participated in.<ref name=":2" />

While women were often portrayed in paintings as caretakers of children, pregnant women were rarely shown in frescoes. Pregnant women were instead represented in the form of sculpted pots with the rounded base of the pots representing the pregnant belly.<ref name=":2" /> Additionally, no Minoan art forms portray women giving birth, breast feeding, or procreating.<ref name=":2" /> Lack of such actions leads historians to believe that these actions would have been recognized by Minoan society to be either sacred or inappropriate, and kept private within society.<ref name=":2" />

Childbirth was a dangerous process within Minoan society. Archeological sources have found numerous bones of pregnant women, identified by the fetus bones within their skeleton found in the abdomen area, providing strong evidence that death during pregnancy and childbirth were common features within society.<ref name=":2" />