Comparing the roles of female humans and goddesses

Often in the Odyssey we see examples of human women playing either minor or no roles in decisions, unable to control their uwn lives. They often seem to be under the complete control of their husbands, fathers and sons. However, goddesses seem to have complete freedom over what they do, can order humans and are listened to in gatherings. Though Penelope might be able to solve the suitor problem, it doesn't appear that she is able to make teh decision to simply tell them no. Since she can't make the decsion over who she can or cannot marry, she must resort to tricking them in order to keep tehm away from her. Telemachus never asks for her advice when he is trying to solve the problem. However, he uses the advice that Athena gives him in the exact way that she explaned it to him. While this is probably because she gives him the advice in the form of a man, and has the authotataive voice of a god, this does show that human women and goddesses play different roles; goddesses can order men around, while woman are at the mercy of teh opposite sex when it comes to life decisions. Athena also shows us that goddesses are are treated as equals to gods. She is able to bring up the issues in assembly and smites people just as often as teh men. However, we don't hear any female voices in the assembly on Ithaca. Goddesses apear to have more freedom in their society than their human counterparts on earth