Some factors that may have contributed to the similarities...
Authorâs Bias and Societyâs View of Women
Since very few women were educated in Ancient Greece, literature from that time were mostly those written by men. This means that we would only have insight on how men perceived women to be in Ancient Greek society-- which, for the record, was not a very good perception at all. In fact, even authors such as Aristotle-- someone who was and is very highly regarded-- portrayed his female characters in a negative light (often referring to them as âlackingâ or âinferiorâ).
So yes, women at the time were considered to be of an inferior class; higher in status than slaves, of course, but still considered to be âlesserâ than the men in the society. In fact, they were even given less rights than their male counterparts. They were not allowed to vote, to inherit property; they were even encouraged not to go out into public, as there was an ideal for women to stay indoors and at home.
Therefore, in this male-dominated society, it was unthinkable for acts like those committed by Antigone and Lysistrata to be allowed. The former had gone against the authority of her brother-- the king of all people-- and the latter had gained power to become a leader through her cooperation with the Spartan and Athenian women. In other words, for these two women to take on power/roles that men usually took, or that went against an existing male leaderâs authority, was outstanding.
Also going back to the point on societal expectations being reflected in literature, one can see that eventually, these expectations are brought back into the plays. Even if the women were allowed a brief time of success (Antigone did succeed in a sort of burial, and Lysistrata was made into a leader at the end of the play), the authors made sure that they were âput downâ in some way at the end. Antigone (and her representation of female power) died in the play, and Lysistrata, while she was now a leader, had an authority that seemed almost mocking (that is, her power to ask the women to abstain). Also, Lysistrata was a comedy, which meant that the audience would not be taking matters in the play too seriously. Therefore, in this, one can see that-- in a way-- both plays actually reinforce the idea of female inferiority, instead of changing the readerâs perspective on a womanâs role in Ancient Greek society.