Women had few rights in male-dominated Athens, and their treatment was sometimes scarcely better than that of domestic slaves. Unless they were prostitutes or courtesans, most wealthy women were largely confined to staying at home and running the household. Poorer women seem to have enjoyed greater freedom, though this was largely due to necessity - their husbands would have spent their days working, forcing their wives to take on a number of responsibilities that wealthier women would have had servants or husbands to do.