E is for Equality


Ancient Egyptian society was a fairly equal society to live in, especially for women. It is believed that they enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as men. However, if you belonged to a lower social class, you would have less rights than someone of a higher social class.
Taken from here
Women could manage, own and sell private property such as slaves, land, livestock and money. They could resolve or conclude legal settlements. They could execute testaments, free slaves, make adoptions, and were entitled to sue at law. In comparison, Greek women required a designated male to represent her if she wanted to do any of these things, usually her husband, father or brother.

When a woman got married, the wife kept her independence and still kept control of her own assets. However, the husband controlled any joint property, but it was known that a share of this belonged to his wife, and if the marriage ended she could collect her share. If the husband died the wife got a third of her husband's property.



Comments

  1. Very interesting - I love learning about advanced views of women's rights in ancient cultures.

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  2. I didn't know this! How interesting!

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  3. I wonder if an ancient Egyptian woman would have been allowed to have a blog? Probs not! Cats were the ones who had all the power back then:) Visiting from A-Z.

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  4. As the well known question goes . . . . . . What did the Egyptians ever do for us.

    Sand Castles ?

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  5. Sounds like they were ahead of their times. Well, they did have Cleopatra as one of their most venerated rulers.

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  6. Reading your posts is making me like the ancient Egyptians even more than I already did!

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  7. Somewhere between then and a hundred years ago, we really regressed.

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  8. Tale as old as time it seems. One of these day humanity will figure it out. :)

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  9. That's so cool about Egyptian women's rights. One of the only ancient cultures you actually see that!

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  10. Interesting. And, even though it didn't happen very often, women could rule.

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  11. Now there's some information that may come in handy. Love it! I would be interested to have your resources on this info so I can check it out in depth. (Just on the Egyptian stuff. I have a great handle on the Greek part.)

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  12. How embarrassing, when you think that women couldn't even vote in most Western countries until the 20th century.

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  13. I would have immigrated to Egypt I guess. Sounds like women had a better deal there.

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  14. Yea I heard about this one somewhere, funny how humanity retreated instead of going forward.

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  15. And to think, in so many countries, women are still looked upon as property of men today. Even in ancient times, they knew better than that!

    MJ, A to Z Challenge Co-Host
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  16. Interesting, I never knew this.

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  17. Great post! I feel smarter now! ;)

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  18. No wonder there was Cleopatra. Ahead of the times. Take that Ancient Greece!

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  19. The world regressed from these ancient times, didn't it? Nice to know women had some independence back then, even if subsequent generations lost theirs.

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  20. In some places our world goes backwards, or so it seems.

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  21. Holy---props to you for doing the A-Z Challenge, Laura! Love your E today. I've always loved Egyptian history!

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  22. Very cool. Women's rights and cat worship. I'm sold. :)

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  23. Wowzers! Didn't know that. What a great post!

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  24. Sounds like a really fair system - good on the Egyptians.
    Sophie
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