Egyptian Women

[olufemi_baina_ayo]

Egyptian Women


Egyptian women I thought were like the Egyptian culture, and like many others that had a patriarchal society. Little did I know that the Egyptian women had a much higher place in the community compared to most cultures. The family line was passed down through the female side of the family, making it a matrilineal culture. I found this and many other fascinating differences between this culture and others.

Today women are still fighting to reach an equal position to men in the society but this battle only started some 20 or 30 years ago. In ancient Egypt, the social position of a woman was mainly determined by the position of her father or husband but in any case, she had exactly the same rights as a man. The Egyptians were apparently the precusors of laws that were only applied thousands of years later.

Rights

Egyptian women, unlike most women of their time, were given high respect both socially and legally. They were allowed to do things like adopt children, present themselves in court, make out their own wills, buy and govern their own property. I think from what I know of ancient cultures that the Egyptian culture was one of the only cultures that gave women very much respect. They earned their respect and kept it by working right alongside men in almost everything

Position of women in the society

Compared to the other civilisation of that time, the Egyptian woman had more freedom, more power and more rights. She could take on any position in the social hierarchy, she could even rule the country. Women weren't economically dependent on their husband because they had the right to own building, properties,... They usually got their possession through her parents' testament.

Roles and illustrations

Men were usually busy with political and administrative matters while women would take care of the kids at home. That's why men were usually richer than women because they received a salary from their work while the woman was staying at home. This difference was clearly illustrated in art. If a man was rich, he could for example erect bigger buildings and as a consequence, most of the Egyptian sculptures were showing males characters. Another reason why there aren't many female characters in the Egyptian art is because the woman was represented as a symbol of fertily. And as fertility covers only a part of a woman's life, the only women who were represented were young and beautiful ladies with nice chest and hips as a sign of fertility. Getting older for a man didn't mean being forgotten, on the contrary. The role of a young man was to work, that's why they were represented with a young and vigorous body. Old men were a bit more fatty but their age gave them a new and higher position in the society, they could command younger men.

Marriage

When married, a man deeded off all of his property to his wife. This enabled his children to inherit things through his wife. If the wife died and the husband married again it was made sure of that the children of the deceased wife got the property. If this did not happen then his sister's children would receive the inheritance. In some cases husbands were nothing more than boarders in the household that was built upon the women's property. Women were expected to be responsible for their actions just as men were. Women were given the same consequences as men were when it came down to being punished for doing wrong. Most men and women shared their chores that kept up the household. They worked right along side one another in the preparation of meals, the tending of the livestock and the raising of the children. On some of the pyramid walls women are shown plowing the fields right alongside men. It is so different (yet of course great) that women and men worked right alongside one another. Men were seen doing jobs like helping take care of the children. Ancient societies and even societies these days don't usually see men taking on so called "women's jobs". The Egyptians were definitely way ahead of their time.

We still don't know how the partners were chosen but marriage was something natural in the Egyptian society. The common men had only one woman while the males members of the royal family usually had several women. There were no wedding ceremony, a man got married to a woman when they both decided to live under the same roof. Divorce was also a common thing. Neglecting the kids or cheating on the partner were among the most common reason to divorce. After the divorce, the man and the woman could get married with someone else again. The separation of possessions during a divorce depended on who was considered as guilty.

Goddess/Religion

Many important women goddesses were also found in the Egyptian society. They were thought to have helped in the development of women's high status. Since the pre-dynastic times, women were known as the sources of life and the guardians of the Egyptian's myths and traditions. One goddess shadowed all of the others though this goddess was Isis, the wife and sister of God Osiris.

In the early Egyptian civilization, women were already busy withreligious matters. There were lots of female priest, especially for Hathor who was the most important god for women (remember, Hathor is the goddess of fertility). They were often represented as women playing music on paintings because they were in charge of the musical accompaniment of rituals.

Isis and the creation of her fame...

Isis stood for creativity and rejuvenation. Many looked upon her as the symbol for the originative leadership of women tilling the earth. She got this name when she revealed one of her secrets to Osiris and he went about to tell others of this secret. The secret was the secret of planting seeds. This made Osiris' brother Seth jealous and he plotted to kill Osiris. He did so by sending him down the Nile in a coffin. Years later, Isis discovered his coffin and his corpse in it with the help of Queen Asarte. Isis brought the corpse back to Egypt and fanned the breath of life into him. In the short period of time that he lived, Isis conceived a child with him. The name of the child was Horus. One day when Isis was on a mission, Seth came and stole Osiris' corpse. He cut the corpse into fourteen pieces and scattered them about the land. When Isis learned of this she set out to find the pieces. She found all but one and pieced together the corpses as well as she could. Making seed-like models of Osiris' missing part, Isis went about the land, planting them inn the earth. This made the crops great and everyone learned of what she had done. Her fame spread while she resumed the throne. It said that from one of Isis' tears the Nile River sprung. When goddesses start out as a major symbol in religion, right from the beginning, it gives people who follow that religion a different outlook on women, then say the people who follow a different religion where all the figures are gods. I think this is why women in the Egyptian society had such a high status because people never knew any differently. Although the women in the Egyptian culture had more freedom and rights then most civilizations they weren't given complete equal opportunity. Women were expected to be monogamous while men were allowed to have several wives. Also, women were not allowed to get a divorce, while the man was. If man divorced the woman for anything besides adultery he was expected to give her a large amount of his property. Girls were denied an education and weren't sent to temple schools. Many people believed that girls got all the education they needed at home, or at least the skills they would need in life.

Stereotypical Style or look

People in the Egyptian race were tall, generally slender and long lived. Many lived to a ripe old age of eighty. Although this is just the main characteristic of a "normal" Egyptian, there are in this race, as there are in all races, exceptions. The women wore full garments made of linen or cotton that had wide sleeves, that were generally found in solid colors or striped patterns. Under this they wore a tunic. They were neat people and wore their hair in fashionable styles. Usually the woman's hair was skillfully arranged. To decorate themselves they wore ribbons, buckles and rings on their head, hands and ears. Many women preferred to have their heads shaven daily. They covered their heads with elaborate wigs, or woven false hairpieces to block out the heat and glare. The typical look of a Egyptian women with their skinny bodies and stylish clothes tell us something. It tells me that women were a lot about image.