Women in Ancient Egypt

The role of women within Egyptian society was a highly complex one. Differing depending on their particular class and place within the social hierarchy, the women of ancient Egypt are often described as the most legally free and equal of any ancient civilisation.

Our knowledge of the role played by the Egyptian women is somewhat limited. The majority of evidence for the Egyptians everyday life comes from within the mortuary sphere, a realm in which the male dominated and women received little attention. Though this is not to say that nothing about the role of an Egyptian woman is known.

The main purpose of any woman in Egypt, whether they were from the Royal family or were a farmer's wife, was to reproduce.

The life expectancy within ancient Egypt was; obviously, considerably lower than in modern Western civilizations so women were often married and reproducing by the age of 16. Whilst there was no set number of children a woman was expected to produce the ideal state was that there was a male heir who would be responsible for the burial of his Father. A popular misconception is that a woman's only role within the Egyptian society was as a "baby machine". This is a result of the high number of children often portrayed within tombs. However, all children, whether alive or dead, were portrayed. This means one can never be sure if all of the children pictured survived into adulthood. The task of identifying the surviving children is made particularly hard by the fact that all the children were depicted as miniature adults with no indication of their age.

The role of women as mother to the family was one that brought them great respect throughout the whole of dynastic Egypt. Wisdom texts, which survive from all periods, attest to this.

The importance of conceiving a child is perhaps most evident from ostraca found at Deir el-Medina. The ostraca in question relate primarily to divorce though cite infertility as a valid reason for divorce. Obviously if the success of the marriage is to rest solely on the ability to conceive childbirth played a major role in Egyptian society. The ostraca from Deir el-Medina would not appear to be the only evidence for divorce in dynastic Egypt. The Old Kingdom mastaba tomb of Sennefer contained within it a small limestone statue. The statue shows Sennefer, the "deputy governor of the palace", seated alone on a bench. The space next to him lies empty yet was clearly once occupied. An arm around Sennefer's back is all that remains of the other occupant. Even Sennefer's partners name has been carefully removed.

As during Victorian England the only respectable time to start a family within ancient Egypt was within wedlock. In some respects this would mean that a further role of women in ancient Egypt was to procure for themselves a husband. Certainly, a husband was a desire of Egyptian woman as the following love poem from the Middle Kingdom shows:

"O thou, the handsomest of men! My only wish is to look after all your possessions by becoming the Mistress of your House. Oh that your hand might always rest in mine. My love is at your service!

(Wilson 1997:56)

In reality, however, woman had very little say in who they married. The arrangements were often made by their Father and were all too often based on who offered the best deal in terms of dowries following discussions and negotiations between all parties.

Besides the responsibility of raising children a primary role of women was often as the manager of the household. This was a role which often earned them the title "mistress of the house" however; this title was never attested to women within the confines of the mortuary sphere. Here instead, the responsibility of the household is depicted, in both picture and hieroglyph, as that of the men. This is hardly surprising given that upon the death of his Father a son may find himself the head of an extended household which included his mother, aunts, sisters and his own wife and children.

The tasks expected of a woman within the household management were believed to have been introduced by Isis. They included things such as baking, brewing, spinning and weaving. Whilst a woman was expected to fulfil these duties within her own home it was often the males who fulfilled them on behalf of the temples. In the wealthier households the more mundane tasks would be left to the servants but they were always answerable to the head female. The position of servant within a wealthy household was also often the domain of women, though all too often peasant girls fulfilled the position.

Within the Workmen's Village at Deir el-Medina the workmen received servants alongside their food rations as part of their wages. The housewives were permitted to use the servants for labour for a set number of days per month. The number of days they were allocated a servant was dependent upon how high upon the employment ladder the male of the household was. The roles that these servants fulfilled were often very labour intensive and included cleaning, laundering and the grinding of the grain; arguably one of the most taxing and mundane tasks which needed to be completed everyday to ensure a supply of bread for the house.

Another housewifely occupation a woman was expected to do would be to make clothes for the family. Spinning and weaving was often the realm of women and as such women would often produce more than their family needed so as to sell the excess at markets. This prompted the Greek writer Herodotus to suggest that the role of men and women had been completely reversed in

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