Your rights as a Freeborn woman:
If you are a Freeborn woman (meaning you weren’t born as slaves or servants, or under any subjugation) then you are considered to be a Roman citizen. However you cannot vote or hold any positions in the government. But, if you are wealthy and from or part of the higher class, you normally are able to exert some sort of influence through private negotiations. You can also inherit property under your own name, own and sell your property, get a divorce, and make a will or be the beneficiary of one.
Besides being a housewife, there are three other career paths you could take, although I don't think these are as exciting as the former.
1. Vestal Virgin: The only major public role that a woman could hold. If you applied and were chosen to be a Vestial Virgin, than you would be a priestess for the godess of hearth, Vesta. This was a 30 year commitment -- 10 years learning and studying the practices, 10 years putting them into action, 10 years teaching the next generation -- a commitment you could not back out of. However, if you were a priestess, you would be relieved of any obligation to marry or have children. But that would also mean that you'd have to stay single and a virgin for those 3o years. Receiving the duties of that job also meant that you'd have to study and correctly observe the rituals that helped keep Rome blessed and protected by the gods.
2. A Freedwoman: Don't get this confused with freeborn women. A freeborn woman is someone who was born with Roman status. A freedwoman is someone who was once a slave or servant who was freed fro that bondage, but who still owed their owner service hours. Their now previous owner would be come their patron. The terms of services and working hours would be discussed between the freedwoman and her patron.
3. Prostitute: This would be considered like a last resort. A job that you would resort to taking when you really needed to support yourself and/or your family. However, some women aren't lucky enough to choose their career, and end up being forced to take this one.