Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves Women in Classical Antiquity

What did women do in Ancient Greece and Rome? Did Socrates' wife Xanthippe ever hear his dialogues on beauty and truth? How many women read the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides? When pagan goddesses were as powerful as gods, why was the status of women so low? Why, in traditional histories, is half the population effectively invisible?