section_path: Society/Women
section_name: Women
paragraph_text: Women
  
  Although women shared the same socio-economic status as men, they faced legal discrimination and had limitations in economic opportunities and vocations. Prohibited from serving as soldiers or holding political office, and restricted from serving as deaconesses in the Church from the 7th century onwards, women were mostly assigned household responsibilities that were "labour-intensive". They worked in professions, such as in the food and textile industry, as medical staff, in public baths, had a heavy presence in retail, and were practicing members of artisan guilds. They also worked in disreputable occupations: entertainers, tavern keepers, and prostitutes; a class where some saints and empresses allegedly originated from. Prostitution was widespread, and attempts were made to limit it, especially during Justinian's reign under the influence of Theodora. Women participated in public life, engaging in social events and protests. Women's rights would not be better in comparable societies, Western Europe or America until the 19th century.