FUN FACTS
For
a Sumerian woman, the law codes made divorce much more difficult for a
woman than for a man. Women did enjoy some legal rights, however.
An Egyptian woman's status normally depended on the rank of her male relations
but she had individual rights. Like Egyptian women, they could buy and
sell property. They could also operate their own businesses and own
and sell their own slaves.
In
many ancient societies women were treated as inferior beings and in some
cases the property of their male family members. In Ancient Egypt women
were treated with respect and had rights equal to men. Egyptian society
ranked a person by the titles he/she held and the Egyptians cherished their
titles dearly.
Egyptian
women were equal in the court system. They could act as a witness, plaintiffs
or a defendant. Women were accountable for crimes they committed and would
have to answer for them in court and if found guilty suffer the same punishment
as the men.
One
of the first women to hold the rank of pharaoh was Hatshepsut, who began
her rule in about 1,500 B.C.E. Hatshepsut took care of her people and built
temples to the gods as well as other public buildings. Egyptian custom
dictated that a pharaoh, who was considered a god, could not marry a mortal.
As a result, pharaohs chose spouses from within the royal family. Her husband,
Thutmose, was her half brother.
What
about the common folk? A woman's role as mother and wife still came first
in Egyptian society. Some professions in which women worked included weaving,
perfume making, and entertainment.
Lower
class women, certainly were illiterate; middle class women and the wives
of professional men, perhaps less so. The upper class probably had a higher
rate of literate women.
The
Egyptian woman in general was free to go about in public; she worked out
in the fields and in estate workshops. Certainly, she did not wear a veil,
which is first documented among the ancient Assyrians (perhaps reflecting
a tradition of the ancient semitic- speaking people of the Syrian and Arabian
Deserts). However, it was perhaps unsafe for an Egyptian woman to venture
far from her town alone.
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