Context: Compared to other Greek states, Sparta had a different inheritance law: Upon a man’s death, all of his wealth passed on to his wife, not his eldest son. Since men constantly died in wars, this resulted in Spartan women inheriting a tremendous amount of wealth and estate. They could then remarry and stand to gain more.
As such, despite not having any voting rights or representation in Spartan politics, they could still indirectly influence state policy by bribing politicians with their wealth to bend it in their favour.
That’s if you were a free spartan woman. Spartans had a slave to free ratio of 10:1 which was significantly higher than most Greek states. I think it’s arguable that citizen women were more equal because the primary power distinction was very strongly free vs slave.
“Gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss” - Spartan women to Helots and Perioikoi
