Women And The Role Of Women In Ancient Egypt

Throughout history, men typically dominated societies. Men have always appeared to have more respect and rights than women, depending on certain civilizations. In societies like Egypt, men were frequently pharaohs and today, are considered to be great rulers. Women were often expected to take the job of motherhood in Egyptian society. Although this was their anticipated responsibility, women, usually upper class and royal, were still permitted to get an education, to possess property, own businesses, have a job and be involved in military control. Women could also rule as pharaoh, which was an infrequent occurrence but did sometimes happen. Hatshepsut, for example, is one of the few women who became a pronounced leader in the ancient

In current times in America, the role of women and the role of men is about equal. When it comes to home life, it’s just as common for women to go out and work as it is for a man to do it. Women have even run for President. However, in the Harappan society in ancient India, and in Sumerian times in ancient Mesopotamia, the equality and respect of women weren’t as strong as it is today. Regardless, women were respected to a certain level. Overall, the respect of women in ancient India was similar to the respect of women in Mesopotamia because goddesses were seen as powerful, young women were admired, and women were highly regarded for being able to give birth.

The understanding of gender roles in society has been very fluid in the evolution of mankind. In ancient civilizations, the roles that you were given within a society were centered primarily around gender. These gender roles did vary from civilization to civilization, but were generally comparable. In most ancient civilizations, the roles of women were confined to the household. This was evident in most societies, but a stand out among these was Ancient Egypt. In which, Egypt was one of the only civilizations where women were even remotely equal to men. When comparing to other societies during the ancient time period, women were most respected in Egypt.

Gender roles in ancient Mesopotamia were clearly defined (teachmiddleeast.edu). Generally, men worked outside of the home and women stayed inside of the home while focusing on raising their children and keeping up with work that took place in the home. However, there were exceptions; we know of women who were “bartenders” and even women who were priestesses, but with limited responsibility. Due to the fact that some were from socially higher families and owned large amounts of property, those women were not allowed to marry. Women at the time were given much less freedom than men, however, women were more protected than men, which is seen in Hammurabi’s Code of Law, specifically in his 130th law:

In the Egyptian society women had the same rights, both legal and economic, as the men in their society. They could both work the same job and earn the same regardless of sex. Each member of the relationship maintained and respected the ownership of what was brought into the marriage. It is not known why these rights existed for women, especially during this time period. Women could even become pharaoh. Nowhere else in the ancient world did something like this exist. The women bore and raised the children. They were basically responsible for all of the more usual or domestic related relationships, while the men taught their growing boys about the world and their own trade. Men in ancient Egypt were often expected to form a life for themselves before going out to find a wife. The males would rarely be able to choose their own careers. It was more common for the men to receive the job their father had when they reached working age. The Egyptian society was

However, in Mesopotamia, the males subjugated the women. To stop married women from tempting other men, they were forced to cover their bodies, except for their faces, with veils. Women in Mesopotamia were often arranged into marriages, without a say on the subject. The Mesopotamian women had little impact on their society, while certain Egyptian women were able to gain highly influential positions in their society. One Egyptian woman even became the Queen of Egypt, alongside her son. Due to Egypt being less strict towards the women, Egyptian women were able to have a greater influence on their society. Although both civilizations were patriarchal, they varied on how strict they were towards women.

Although ancient Egyptian women were not completely equal to the men in their society, they still had more rights than women in other ancient societies. Unlike women in other ancient societies, Egyptian women enjoyed most of the same legal and economic rights that Egyptian men did. In ancient Egypt “the disparities between people's legal rights were based on differences in social class and not on gender.”

Royal women were not the only ones to have rights in Egyptian culture; commoners had many of the same freedoms as well. Common women were equal in law and could own property. Common women could also participate in court and seek legal action if their property was in jeopardy. Women were also given some degree of education like the Spartans. The

However, ancient Athenian and Egyptian women did have some similarities regarding their role in society. They were both allowed to become priestesses and attend religious ceremonies, even though there were different circumstances required at times. Low ranking government positions were made available to them if their husbands and therefore, by extension themselves, were considered to be upper class. Both were given the role as the main caretaker of the house in aspects such as cleanliness and upkeep, as well as caring for the children. Limited citizenship or none at all, depending on the husbands status in society, was granted to women in both ancient civilizations (Schaps 1979, 4-16; Joust 1989, 9-18; Harris 1992, 309-321; Robins 1993, 56-156).

Even though they both did not share an equal status with the males in their respective societies, ancient Egyptian women did enjoy more freedom and equal treatment, as opposed to ancient Roman women. Despite the fact that Roman women were not confined to their homes, they were throughout their lives subject to the authority of the men in their lives, unlike Egyptian women who did not require a male guardian to act on her

Women were treated similarly in both civilizations, but they had their differences. The women in Egypt had more privileges compared to the women of India. In either civilization, the women are definitely not equal to men, there are sometimes when the powers get close, but they are never fully equal. Even in modern times, a man and a woman could have the same job and work the same hours, but women today get paid 79 cents to every man’s dollar. The roles of women have always been to remain submissive and care for the family, today that is still an expectation, it is just worded

Mesopotamian women did not have very much freedom at all. They were expected to follow the laws of Hammurabi’s code, which were not very fair to women. “The Mesopotamian woman's role was strictly defined. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.” (oi.uchicago.edu, 2010) Mesopotamian women were very limited to what they could or could not do.

Throughout history, most societies held women in an inferior status compared to that of men. This was often justified as being the natural result of biological differences between the sexes. In many societies, for example, people believed women to be more emotional and less decisive than men. Women were also viewed to be less intelligent and less creative by nature. However, research shows that women and men have the same range of emotional, intellectual, and creative characteristics. Many sociologists and anthropologists maintain that various cultures taught girls to behave according to negative stereotypes (images) of femininity, thus keeping alive the idea that women are naturally inferior.

Let’s start out talking about the Mesopotamians. The role of a Mesopotamian woman was strictly defined. She was either a daughter to her father or a wife to her husband. Women rarely acted and were treated as individuals outside of their families. If you were allowed to it was because you were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.

In ancient Jewish society, women were primarily services for men and raise children as other societies. However, women were given more respects, legal rights, social autonomy, and education than other ancient groups (Backman, p83). Women’s position was almost equal to men. They had a voice in their society. They could become a leader such as Miriam who helped the Hebrews to get across the Red Sea or Deborah who governed one of the twelve tribes. They also had a lot of rights in the marriage law. In this law, forced marriage did not apply on women. The husbands had been required to honor, support, and work on behalf of the wives because women had to bring wealth or dowry into the marriage. A special favor for Jewish women was the equal right