It is difficult to fully understand the role of women in ancient Egyptian society because the understandings of the society and government are still incomplete. There are also two other major problems, those being that there is very little source material on women, and the material that has been found was biased by the ideas and minds of previous Egyptologists. The only source material that has survived from great kingdoms of Egypt is material that has been either found in tombs on the walls and sarcophaguses, or carved on major government and religious document. None of the writings on papyrus and other delicate materials survived. This material, which has survived, is the writings of the Egyptian literate male elite. In their writings the also did not show any emotions or feelings, this was not the style of the Egyptian people, writings were purely a record keeping device. Because of these limitations, “It is essential to avoid the temptation to extrapolate from the particular to the general, a process which can only too easily introduce error.”
Upper class men, who had been schooled in their craft, did all the writings. As a result, there is very little material that deal with the lower peasant class. They were all illiterate and unable to record their tales. When studying women in Ancient Egypt, the great majority of the available texts discuss the lives of the upper class, which composed only a small percentage of the Egyptian population.
In Pharonic Egypt, women were the legal equals of men. They were not denied any rights in accordance of the law because of their gender. Women, like men, could own property, coming into it either through inheritance, as a payment for goods or services, or through purchase. Women could buy houses and goods, and with them, they were allowed to do as they chose. Being landholders and people of property afforded ancient Egyptian women a reasonable amount of social freedom. They could travel about freely in towns without veiled faces. In their own homes, women could move about as they pleased, they were not forced to remain in one section of the house or forbidden from other common areas as they were in other societies of the time.
Women could initiate legal proceedings, and they were responsible for their own actions. They could be the executors of wills and even sign their own marriage contrac...
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... Egyptian women were looked at differently than men; their role was that of the nurturer and the caregiver, the bearer of a family’s future. They were just as important to the society as the men. Ancient Egypt was a very complex world, and just as complex was the role that women played in its society. They were not free, but they also were not enslaved. They were vital, but only in terms of their husbands and their children. Egypt offered women a far more free life than the rest of the ancient world. In the end, women played a secondary role to men putting their desires for achievement aside so their husband could be king.
Bibliography:
Fischer, Henry George. Egyptian Women of the Old Kingdom and the Heracleopolitan Period. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York. 1989
Hawass, Zahi. Silent Images: Women of Pharonic Egypt. Cultural Development Fund, Cairo, Egypt. 1995.
Robbins, Gay. Women in Ancient Egypt. St. Martins Press, New York, New York. 1991.
Tyldesley, Joyce. Daughters of Isis, Women of Ancient Egypt. Penguin Books, London, England 1995
Watterson, Barbara. Women in Ancient Egypt. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1993
Due to the ethnocentrism of American culture and ideas, the tribal group known as the Taliban may seem like a sociological disgrace to law-abiding citizens of the United States. The Taliban is made up of Pakistanis and Afghans who are said to be the “Holy Warriors of Allah” and rigidly adhere to a set of standards set out by the prophet Mohammed himself. They are considered one of the most radical groups that exist in the world today and are looked upon as dishonorable and even appalling by less radical Muslims. However, the reality is that the group has its own culture, sociological structure, and interactions which are simply different than those of the United States.
Before the 1700 and 1800s women in some of areas had the right to vote. They also had the right to inherit properties. Because back then the world did mostly farming, men and women shared the work. Also the men shared in child care.
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Baker, Aryn. "Afghan Women And the Return of The Taliban." 9 Aug. 2010: 20-28. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
Ancient Egyptian society was unlike any other ancient society. It was much more lenient toward licentiousness and did not ostracize those who would be considered prostitutes or whores at that time period in any other country. It did not have any particular marriage ceremony nor gender preference for children. Ancient Egyptian society was also, by far, he most female friendly society of the Ancient World.
Women in classical Egyptian, Indian, and Persian literature are depicted as being more than just one dimensional figures. They are displayed as living beings, capable of emotion and exercising power amongst men. Ancient history has shown that in places such as Egypt, woman had equal rights alongside men, in regards to legal and economic rights. At the time, rights were based on economic class and not gender. By having a rights system that mimicked that of men’s rights, Egyptian women were able to show their multi-dimensionality. This multi-dimensionality was best portrayed in love poems such as “The Beginning of the Song that Diverts the Heart,” “I passed close by his house,” and ancient Egyptian literary artifacts, involving stele’s of Ahhotep
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In 1996 the Taliban took over Afghanistan and immediately imposed their fundamentalist ideals on the citizens. They effectively did this by oppressive tactics maintaining control on their people. The Taliban, lead by spiritual leader Mohammed Omar, has used many different ways to oppress the nation of Afghanistan. One way they did was was by destroying ancient art structures that have became a huge part of their culture. These acts had a great effect on the people in Afghanistan stripped them of a very sacred symbol in their eyes. The Taliban oppression has left citizens scared and powerless.
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Pomeroy, Sarah B. Women in Hellenistic Egypt: From Alexander to Cleopatra. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990.
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