According to Hesiod, Pandora was the first woman among humans.
Hesiod’s *Works and Days* presents Pandora as the first woman created by the gods. Zeus orders her creation as part of his punishment of humanity after Prometheus gives people fire. The gods contribute different qualities to her, making her a constructed figure whose arrival marks a major change in the human condition.
This point is sometimes confused with other Greek creation stories. Pandora is not the first goddess, the first Titan, or the first female figure in every Greek tradition. Her status as the first woman belongs specifically to Hesiod’s account, especially the narrative in *Works and Days*.
The myth also explains why human life contains hardship. Before Pandora’s arrival, the story imagines people living without the troubles that later escape from her container. Hesiod’s version therefore combines an origin story for women with an explanation of suffering and labor in the human world.