Rights of Egyptian Women
Throughout written history, women have experienced status subservient to the men they lived with. Generally, most cultures known to modern historians followed a standard pattern of males assigned the role of protector and provider while women were assigned roles of domestic servitude. Scholars speculate endlessly at the cause: biology, religion, social custom. Nevertheless, the women were always subordinated to the men in their culture. Through their artwork, tomb inscriptions, and papyrus and leather scrolls, preserved in the dry, desert air, Ancient Egyptians left evidence for scholars suggesting that
Egypt was once a peculiar exception to this pattern. Anthropological evidence suggests that unusual circumstances in Ancient Egyptian culture provided for women to be given equal status to their male counterparts: notably, matrilineal inheritance and emphasis on the joy of family life over maintaining ethnic purity. Legally, women in Ancient Egypt held the same legal rights as men. A woman could own property and manage it as she saw fit. One example of this, the
Inscription of Mes, provided scholars with proof that women could manage property, institute litigation, and could act as a witness before a court of law.
Surviving court documents not only showed that women were free to take action with the court, but the documents also show that they frequently won their cases.
They could also enter contracts and travel freely, unescorted, throughout the state. This is a great contrast to women in Greece, who were required to act through a male representative. Interestingly, property and its administration was passed from mother to daughter, matrilineally. The Egyptians relied on matrilineal heritage, based on the assumption that maternal ancestors are less disputable than paternal ones. The effect of legal equality in writing and practice coupled with the ownership and administration of property led to an ensured equality.
The rights and egalitarian conditions enjoyed by Egyptian women shocked the conquering Greeks. In 450 BC, Greek historian Herodotus noted:
They Egyptians, in their manners and customs, seem to have reversed the ordinary practices of mankind. For instance, women attend market and are employed in trade,...
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...providing scholars with an examples of conditions that brought about a particularly benign development of male-dominance in Ancient Egypt.
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Tansey, Richard. Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Fort Worth: Harcourt
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Tyldesley, Joyce. Daughters of Isis. New York: Penguin Books Ltd, 1994.
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Piccione, Peter A. "The Status of Women in Ancient Egyptian Society"
History of Ancient Egypt Page. http://www.library.nwu.edu/class/history/B94/B94women.html 16 Oct, 1996
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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...