They should also, however, maintain their own gender because women who made themselves look like men were acting in ways contrary to nature and therefore contrary to the will of God. For Paul, men and women were to continue to accept their natural social roles. This meant women should remain subordinate to men.
The Pauline churches restricted the roles of women in the church after Paul's time. The church insisted that women be married and submit to the dictates of their husbands both at home and in the church. In those times, women were considered the biologically weaker sex, they were "defective men" who had only been partially formed in the womb. In Roman society, those who were weaker were supposed to be subservient to those who were stronger. Since women are naturally weaker than men, they were dominated. In the Christian communities where women could sometimes attain levels of authority, the women who did hold some position were often viewed suspiciosly for not knowing their place and not maintaining proper female virtues (Ehrman 1, p.372). .
In Aristotle's view of one's persona, there were two parts: the body and the soul. The body consisted of passion, emotion, and fear. The body was passive; women and slaves were said to be on this side of the persona. On the soul side were the men, the free. The soul had reason and was active in ruling over the body. Being primarily on the soul side, men were free to understand their lives in conformity to nature without being distracted by the body. Even in this ancient philosophical ideology, women are placed among slaves and are regarded as inferior. There were differences though, between free women and the enslaved population. Unlike slaves, women were allowed to hold public offices such as civic officials. It was very expensive to do this though, so sometimes the leading male citizens would share the office title with a wealthy woman to share the expense.
