Daily life of women (household economics)

In ancient Egypt women had the same legal rights as their male counterparts. Women were able to buy and sell property, inherit land and divorce their husbands. Women could work in the textile industry and temples. The majority of women's duties involved marriage, running the household and bearing children. Compared with other ancient societies such as Greece, Egyptian women had many freedoms and rights.

The legal rights of women

Ancient Egyptian women had more legal rights than their sisters in ancient civilisations such as Greece. Egyptian women were able to leave the house and go out with their friends without a male guardian, unlike women in ancient Greece. All Egyptian women had rights in relation to property and these rights were protected by contracts and Egyptian law. Refer Image1

Women were the legal equals of men. Women had the right to own property. A woman could purchase land, receive land as payment for work and inherit land from her family.

When she was married, a woman was allowed to administer her own property. It did not automatically become the property of her husband. She could do as she pleased with her land, loaning it to her husband or friends, leasing it or selling it.

Marriage was a legal contract between a man and a woman. t was like the modern pre-nuptial agreement. If a husband and wife divorced, the wife would retain her own property and receive her dowry (a material gift given to the husband from the bride's father). She could claim a share in joint property unless divorce was caused by adultery.

If her husband died, the wife had a legal right to one third of his property. The rest of his property was equally divided among his family.

Divorce was quite frequent in Egyptian society. The husband or wife could initiate the divorce. Reasons for divorce included being incompatible, infertile or falling in love with another person. If a woman was divorced, she was able to return to her father's home with her own property (acquired before and during the marriage) and have a right to half the shared property of the marriage. If a woman committed adultery, she was immediately divorced and lost all her legal rights to her property. Women could write wills leaving their property to whomever they wished.

A woman had the freedom to buy slaves, defend herself in a court of law, make legal contracts and live by herself without the protection of a male guardian.

These rights applied to all women in Egyptian society, regardless of their rank or status.

Ancient Egyptian women often invoked their legal rights. There were many accounts of women, from the upper, middle and lower classes, buying and selling property and agreeing to divorce settlements.

The jobs of women

Most women did not receive an education and were not able to obtain jobs in the bureaucracy. There were a small number of women who were taught to write, but few women were employed in the bureaucracy. Some women were trained in arts and crafts. Refer Image2

The majority of women were engaged in domestic work. Upper-class women were supervisors over the many servants and attendants in their households. These women often had the title 'Mistress of the House'.

Middle- and lower-class women who did not have servants to assist them with the housework performed these labours themselves. Wall reliefs in tombs show women preparing food, brewing beer, baking bread, cleaning the house, growing fruit and vegetables and going to market for fresh food for their families.

Outside the domestic sphere, women were able to gain employment in the temple as priestesses, mourners, dancers and musicians. They performed at private banquets and special ceremonies.

Women dominated the textile industry. Women worked as weavers and supervisors.

In medicine, women acted as midwives, assisting other women during childbirth and helping them care for their children.

Women worked alongside their husbands and families in agriculture. Most Egyptians were peasant farmers. Everyone in a community had to contribute to help complete the annual harvest on time. Women were not allowed to do the heavy labour jobs such as ploughing or reaping. Women did other jobs such as gleaning (collecting leftover grain after it had been reaped) and weeding.

The Egyptian love of official titles extended to women. In public life, prominent women received titles such as 'Superintendent of the Dining Hall,' or 'Overseer of the Wig Shop,' or 'Overseer of Amusements'. In the royal household there was a 'Mistress of the Royal Harem'. In the weaving industry, a prominent woman was appointed 'Overseer of the House of Weavers'.

Being a woman in Ancient Egypt

Daughters and wives of the noblemen were depicted in wall paintings in the tombs of noble men. They were always shown as young and beautiful. They had milky-white skin from working inside the home. Men were always tanned brown from working in the sun, regardless of whether or not they worked in the sun. Women were sometimes depicted as being the same size as their husbands, but more often were shown as less than half their size. Women were shown standing behind their husbands in supporting roles.

Women played important roles supporting their husbands and families. They had high social status in society and exercised a high degree of authority and power in the household. There were many influential women in the royal family. In the early New Kingdom, kingship was passed through the maternal blood line, through royal wives rather than sons. Queen Hatshepsut was one of the most successful, and one of the first, female pharaohs in Egypt. Royal women also played important roles in religion, filling the influential position of 'God's Wife of Amun', a position which tied the royal family to the temple. Refer Image3

A woman's role and status, though, was ultimately tied to her family. Once a woman was married, her status was associated with the position of her husband. As she bore children, her standing in the community increased. The birth of a boy brought more status than the birth of a girl, but the more children a woman had, the higher her social status.

Family was important for the ancient Egyptians. Husbands and wives were often depicted in family scenes - wives tenderly embracing their husbands, sharing a meal, playing a game, accompanying them on fowling trips and socialising at banquets. Refer animation