Women’s roles and lifestyles in ancient Egyptian society were defined by their class and varied due to each level of society. By law women were equal to men. This however, does not point to total equality as generally not all rights experienced by upper classes extended to the lower class, regardless of gender. Therefore, it is important to differentiate the role of women in each class of society. The distinct roles explored in this essay are the role of ordinary women, role of women in the upper class, and the role of women in power. It is also important to know of how women were viewed in ancient Egypt and draw comparisons on this view with other cultures and time periods. The study of women in ancient Egypt has uncovered a wealth of knowledge
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This is supported by the majority of evidence we have on Ancient Egyptian women. However, evidence mostly represents the lives of the women from rich and wealthy families. Ordinary girls wouldn’t have learnt how to read or write, leaving little evidence about their life. In fact, ordinary women would have had very few chances to own a property or be buried in a tomb with scenes from their lives, as well as most tombs being built for just men (Manning, 2002). When considering the lives of ordinary women stark gender distinctions are revealed. That is not to say that women didn’t have a significant role in the society they served. Ordinary girls would be taught by their mothers to take on the same roles as them. This would involve preparing for marriage, raising children and managing a household. Girls would marry in early teenage years and move to their husband’s house or would move out be a servant of a wealthy family. The “mistress of the household” was the title given to the new wife. She would be in charge of caring for the children, cooking cleaning and managing servants. Most households would have servants to do the housework, however, the mistress of the house would spend most of her time supervising them. In only the poorest households that couldn’t afford servants, the woman would do most of the work herself (Robins, 1993). Female servants would generally work inside the house, while the males would work on the fields (Lawless, 2010). However, in a mural painting from the tomb of Menna in Thebes, women are seen doing agricultural work such as picking figs. Another interesting part of this mural is the fact that the woman seems to be minding a child whilst doing agricultural work (Szpakowska, 2012). Poorer women would have spent the better part of the day grinding corn to make flour, collecting water from the Nile River, weaving and looking
This is supported by the majority of evidence we have on Ancient Egyptian women. However, evidence mostly represents the lives of the women from rich and wealthy families. Ordinary girls wouldn’t have learnt how to read or write, leaving little evidence about their life. In fact, ordinary women would have had very few chances to own a property or be buried in a tomb with scenes from their lives, as well as most tombs being built for just men (Manning, 2002). When considering the lives of ordinary women stark gender distinctions are revealed. That is not to say that women didn’t have a significant role in the society they served. Ordinary girls would be taught by their mothers to take on the same roles as them. This would involve preparing for marriage, raising children and managing a household. Girls would marry in early teenage years and move to their husband’s house or would move out be a servant of a wealthy family. The “mistress of the household” was the title given to the new wife. She would be in charge of caring for the children, cooking cleaning and managing servants. Most households would have servants to do the housework, however, the mistress of the house would spend most of her time supervising them. In only the poorest households that couldn’t afford servants, the woman would do most of the work herself (Robins, 1993). Female servants would generally work inside the house, while the males would work on the fields (Lawless, 2010). However, in a mural painting from the tomb of Menna in Thebes, women are seen doing agricultural work such as picking figs. Another interesting part of this mural is the fact that the woman seems to be minding a child whilst doing agricultural work (Szpakowska, 2012). Poorer women would have spent the better part of the day grinding corn to make flour, collecting water from the Nile River, weaving and looking