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Critically assess the role of women in ancient egyptian society
Gender equality in ancient civilizations
Gender equality in ancient civilizations
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Meysar Abdulkadir Oct 16th, 2017 History of Early Western Civilization Research Paper Assignment (Ancient Egypt): Ancient Egypt started around three-thousands and one-hundred B.C. to six-hundred and seventy-two B.C. Ancient Egypt started after two-thousand and four-hundred years after Mesopotamia civilization began. Ancient Egypt was located in the Mediterranean region. This environment is hot and dry so it forced the ancient Egyptians to live near the Nile River to get water for their crops. Notwithstanding, the Nile River floods flooded at the same time each year making the floods regular and predictable. When the Nile River flooded, it deposited nutrient-rich soil on the riverbanks. This made the riverbanks excellent farmland. The …show more content…
Women were treated way better than compared to other civilizations. Women in ancient Egypt were highly respected because there were no divisions in gender, however, there were only divisions in different classes. "There was no division which was being made in terms of the gender, but there was division which was made only based on the classes of the society" (The Role of Women in Ancient Egypt). The ancient Egyptian women were not like other women in other kingdoms such as the Mesopotamian women. Other women in different civilizations were not cherished as much as the Egyptian women. In fact, women in other civilization were seen as inferior to men. Women in other kings were beaten by their husband, however, women in ancient Egypt were loved, respected, and cherished. The Instruction of Ptahhotep states, "Be not brutal; tact will influence her better than violence; her... behold to what she aspires, at what she aims, what she regards. It is what fixes her in your house; if you repel her it is an abyss" (The Instruction of Ptahhotep, 67). Ancient Egyptian women had power over their belonging because they were able to control, manage, and even sell their properties by their own will. If the women have enough money to purchase a product or property she was allowed to purchase the desired property without any type of consequences. "The women can manage all the property of hers and can sell it …show more content…
Women were highly respected as honorable mothers, wives, workers, and also, priestesses. Sometimes women in ancient Egypt held powerful and high positions in religious groups and even sometimes became the pharaoh. The reading of Instructure of Ptahhotep explains how highly women were held and how they treated their women. The reading states, "If you are wise, look after your house; love your wife without alloy. Fill her stomach, clothe her back; these are the cares to be bestowed on her person. Caress her, fulfill her desires during the time of her existence; it is a kindness which does honor to its possessor" (The Instruction of Ptahhotep, 67). This shows how highly women were treasured and respected by Lord Ptah. The great Ptahhotep also taught his beloved people to love their women and cherish them. The reading states, "Open your arms for her, respond to her arms; call her, display to her your love...." (The Instruction of Ptahhotep,
During the time of Ancient Egypt, having strong Pharaohs was essential to the maintenance and growth of the civilization, as the Pharaohs were believed to be living Gods. Although leadership of Ancient Egypt was often male dominated, there were admirable female Pharaohs who successfully gained power and left behind a positive legacy; one woman to achieve this was Hatshepsut, meaning ‘foremost of female nobles’. Her innovation and determination allowed her to maintain her position of Pharaoh for about twenty years (1479-1458 BCE). Hatshepsut was considered to be a very successful leader because of her confidence and ambition, magnificent building projects, and establishment of a strong trading network.
A woman was not seen as being equal to a man. This is clear in the laws dealing with marriage. Women were contractually obligated to remain with their husbands only, while their husbands were permitted to have a mistress or second wife. If a woman was caught with another man, she would be drowned (“The Code of Hammurabi”). Another thing that shows that women were not equal to men is the fact that they could be sold into slavery by their husbands at any time. Women did, however, have some rights such as the right to own property and the right to inherit and pass down that property. They also played very important roles in society. Some of these roles included shop owners, bakers, or scribes (Judge and Langdon,
In other words, their lifestyle. In Ancient Egypt, the egyptians think of their kings as a pharaoh. According to Document 3 on the Mesopotamia and Egypt DBQ, an explanation of what a Pharaoh found on a tomb reads “A pharaoh is a god by whose dealings one lives, the father and mother of all...without an equal.” By using this quotation, I think that the ancient Egyptians believed that there was no one equal to the pharaoh, which made the pharaoh such a special person. The type of power that the pharaoh possessed in Egypt was that this god had the power of a mother and a father over all, just like the power that a mother and a father has over their children. In the meantime, in Ancient Mesopotamia was the Code of Hammurabi. In Document 4, it stated that Hammurabi’s goal was “to render good to the people, to make justice shine in the land, to destroy the evil and wicked, that the strong do not oppress the weak.” Along with the strict laws are harsh punishments. An example of a harsh punishment would be to be put to death for committing a crime of stealing. Although, from my knowledge, majority of the countries in this world do not have severe laws and punishments similar to the Code of Hammurabi, they still follow the idea homologous to Hammurabi’s goal. The Sumerians and Akkadians respected and honored the pharaoh so much because they relied on them for the life they desire. This will be explained more
It can easily be seen that while men were considered to be the most powerful and wisest humans and gods, women had the power to significantly influence these men. From Uta-napishti's wife who convinced Uta-napishti to tell Gilgamesh about the plant that would make him young again to the examples mentioned above, several women were put in roles that had important effects on the men they encountered. Of course, this is not much different from the society we live in today. While many may believe that women have still not reached the point of true equality, it is hard to say that they are inferior and the significance of their roles in society is undeniable.
The first way that the Nile shaped Ancient Egypt was through population distribution. According to document A, the map of Ancient Egypt, a lot of people lived among the Nile. But a majority lived by the delta. Living among the Nile and by the delta gave people fresh drinking water, good farmland, and ways of trading and transportation. The Red Land was land desert area that protected
Henrik Ibsen once said, “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.”(Notable Quotes) Ibsen’s statement exemplifies what life was like for women during ancient times. In many of the organized ancient civilizations, it was very common to find a primarily patriarchal civilization in government as well as in society. The causing factors can be attributed to different reasons, the main being the Neolithic Revolution and the new found dependence on manpower it caused. As a result of this, a woman found herself to be placed into an entirely different view in the eye of society. In comparison to the early Paleolithic matriarchal societies, the kinds of changes that came about for women due to the introduction of agriculture are shocking. Since the beginnings of the Neolithic era, the role and rights of women in many ancient civilizations began to become limited and discriminatory as a result of their gender.
Around the time 3150 B.C., Ancient Egyptian society and civilizations first coalesced, creating many ancient city-states surrounding the main source of life, the Nile River. Like any functioning society, this ancient civilization followed rules and governments that are both similar and different to the modern rules of this day and age. Mainly, the similarity of the economic classes and the difference of the rulership. Also, a key point that is both similar and more advanced than modern society is the role of women in Egypt, specifically their civil rights that were much more modern than that of other civilizations at that time. Women also even held public office at the highest level, which hasn’t yet occurred even in modern America.
... since they were the rulers, they could speak to a woman in any manner they wished, they could even tell women how to think. This same attitude is how some men think about and treat women still today, in our own country. Some men think that women should just marry, cook, clean and have children. Men think women could not possibly be good for anything else outside of these basic functions. In a sad example of human culture, very few could have predicted women today would face the same challenges as women 1,570 years ago!
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
Egyptians cherished family life the way we cherish food or money. Children were considered a blessing. They prayed for them and used magic to have children, but if a couple could not conceive they adopted. Men were the head of the household and the oldest son inherited everything of the father’s. Egyptian women were to obey their fathers and husbands, but were equal in many other ways. For example, women could have jobs, some rights in court cases, and they were able to own land. Women were also allowed to own businesses. Only noble women, however, could be priestesses. The women raised the children and took care of the house. Wealthy families would hire maids and nannies to do such things. Divorce was not common in Ancient Egypt, though it was an option. Problems were talked about between families, and if they could not be settled a divorce would take place. Some women became rulers but only in secret. The only woman who ruled as a pharaoh in the open was Queen Hatsheput. Ordinary men normally had one wife, while pharaohs and kings had several. Most marriages were arranged by parents. Most girls married at age twelve while boys were usually a little older.
... 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.
Throughout the course of history, women have been greatly underrepresented in both the social and political worlds. This is especially true when looking back at ancient civilizations such as the Roman and Egyptian Empires in which women were to only become homemakers. There, however, were exceptions. One of these exceptions was Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt who through great use of her gender accomplished many tasks which other women of her era couldn’t even begging to imagine. In the book Cleopatra a Biography the author, Duane W. Roller argues that Cleopatra’s gender played a huge role in her political career as she used it to ensure protection, peace, and survival for her kingdom.
When it came to the rights of these women, they really didn’t have any at all. In Greece women were considered to be second class citizens at best. All women were forbidden to own property, inherit their own name, vote, or attend political debate. Men viewed them as nothing of real importance. To them they were irrational, fearful, and only to be used for their physical desires. They were considered to be the ward of a man (Sacks 263). Women in Egypt were treated fairly well compared to the others. They shared the same legal and economic rights as men they were capable of owning land, slaves, and could acquire possessions for themselves in many ways. Elite women did have more rights and opportunities than the nonelite but they were both very fortunate. Regardless of class though, all women had only a few main concerns and expectations. They were all expected to get married and raise a family, maintain the management of the household, and bearing and rearing children (Harrison 510).
In present days gender equality seems ordinary around the world, but there are some areas male dominant and prejudice against women still exist, these areas include workplaces and strong cultural beliefs families. Gender inequality first surfaced in ancient world, the surviving physical evidence such as temples, buildings and battle memorials illustrate this phenomenon where they all speak of man’s world. Though there are many surviving works of art feature of ancient women in various forms, but has rarely given any insight into other kind of world except that in which women were controlled, contained, and often exploited (Scott, 2009).
Women's voices were strong in Egyptian poetry- e.g the narrator or lover write about the choices of the woman. This strength verify that was held a higher position in the ancient Egyptian culture than other societies. Women may have even written some poetry.