Women In Ancient Egypt

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.

Egyptian women were fortunate in that they were equal to men as far as the law was concerned. They could own property, borrow money, initiate divorce, and many other things unheard of in the Greek civilization. The Egyptian royal line was matriarchal, meaning that royalty was passed down from mother to son. The Greeks, in comparison, were patriarchal, meaning control was passed from father to son. It was also necessary for a man to marry a woman of royalty in order to become a Pharaoh. Because of this, it was common for brothers to marry sisters. Sometimes, women were even known to become a Pharaoh. There are at least four documented female Pharaohs with the most notable being Hatshepsut (1479-1458 B.C.) (McKay 2009). Hatshepsut, though a very powerful ruler, was often times depicted in men’s clothing and with a false beard (McKay 2009). This shows that even though women were much more important in Egyptian society, there was still a stigma around women leaders.

In Egypt, although men were the dominant gender in society, women were treated with great respect, which led to a very stable and successful society. The Egyptians believed that the goal of life was happiness and viewed home and family life as the main source of it. Egyptian law basically treated women as equals for the most part. Women were allowed to hold positions of power, own property, own slaves, receive an education, and even borrow money. Although Pharaohs were normally men, certain circumstances allowed for women to hold the same title. The Egyptians believed that marriage and family were very important aspects in life. They believed that unconditional love and kindness were vital in a marriage and thought that husband and wife should always treat each other with respect. In regards to family, unlike many cultures that viewed children as another mouth to

Egyptians paid great respect to women at least in the upper classes, in part because marriage alliances were vital to the preservation and stability of the monarchy. The Egyptians believe that the royal family was immortal. The word family brings every member of the family to the same circle of respect and power. The man like in the Mesopotamian civilization was the head of the family. That is also seemed in today’s daily life in most cases. A statue of Pharaoh Mycerinus and his queen represents the wife presenting her husband and not the husband presenting his wife as the powerful one.

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).

Legally, women in Ancient Egypt permitted to have nearly an equal amount of independence and privilege to the natural rights as men. In Egypt they treat their ladies much nicer than any of the other major civilizations of the ancient world. In contrast to those of other ancient civilization, Egyptian women seemed to appreciate the equal legal and economic rights as the Egyptian man. Compared to Mesopotamia, the ladies of Egypt were given the right to partake in court from all aspects. The women are capable of being a judge at court or they could act as eyewitnesses, and they can even bring their own cases to the court. Like men, Egyptian women had the right to own and manage their own private property, they are capable of disowning children, and

Egyptian women could take part in business activities (Watterson 1991:25), in contrast to Roman women, who had a very limited role in public life, and could not attend, speak in, or vote at political assemblies, nor could they hold any position of political responsibility (Clarke 1981:206-207). Roman women were meant to stay within the confines of the house but were permitted to attend market and visit their

Moving ahead into the great civilization of Ancient Egypt, women and men had typical gender roles. Women were still seen as child bearers and domestic housekeepers and men taught their sons and became heavily involved in civic affairs (“Ancient Egypt”). The treatment of men and women was essentially equal in that woman did maintain civil rights, were given their own tombs upon death, and were even permitted to leave their husbands if necessary (“Ancient Egypt”). This was mainly because all property was passed from generation to generation through women- not men- giving them higher status and importance since Egyptians saw their land as sacred.

In Ancient Egypt, women were looked at as equals to men. Women were in charge of bearing and raising children, but also managing, owning, and selling private property. This private property can be anything such as slaves, land, portable goods, servants, livestock, and money. Women are also allowed to acquire possessions, either as a gift or left from their deceased husband. Typically, Egyptian women got married around the age of 14 and started to bear children right away. Men were in charge of taking care of families, and held a majority of political roles. Both men and women were allowed to work, take ownership of their own belongings, and were equally looked at by

Ever wondered what food, woman, or everyday life was back in Ancient Egypt? Ancient Egypt was very different than America is today. In this essay, I will teach you about all those topics!

Beginning this middle kingdom of Egypt, the most significant position a women can hold, was God’s wife of Amun. There were several "God's Wives" linked with certain gods, and originally, in the Middle Kingdom, the God's Wife of Amun was solely just one among many. The “God's Wife” was an honorable name given to a woman (usually the upper class women of Egypt) who would aid “the high priest in ceremonies and tend to the god's statue.” Soon at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period, the God's Wife of Amun was in the same in authority with the king and successfully reigned Upper Egypt. During the New Kingdom period, the most well-known of the God's Wives was no other than pharaoh Hatshepsut, but there were many other women to hold the office before and after her such as Nefertiti. As mentioned previously, a women can only be a priestess if she is a scribe. The course of study to become a scribe was long and hard.

The final path for each sex was at the age of 30, when a man became a warrior and a woman had become marrying age. This was much the same for the Egyptians just at a faster pace, probably due to the high mortality rate of children. Young girls would help their mothers with household chores or out in the fields and young boys were expected to follow in their fathers’