What was the women's role in ancient Egypt?

Answer 1

Women of Egypt had power if they were fertile, they were considered successful. Women in Egypt could also become pharoah, if they were married into it and the previous pharoah had no sons, but daughters.

Women in ancient Egypt had a lot more freedom than those in most other ancient civilizations. They had the right to own and sell their lands. Some of those with education were priestesses, had jobs in administration, were supervisors, treasurers or even occassionally advisors to the pharaohs.

Those of the lower classes could be hairdressers, weavers, dancers, mourners or prostitutes.

Women also took care of children and the household, and would work on farms if they were of that class.

Answer 2

Pretty much the same as today. Cooking, cleaning, watching the children, making clothes, laundry, dishes, bearing children, and teaching her girls how to cook and clean.

That was just the wives. Women existed who were professial party-goers, entertaining rich men and their 'needs'. They satisfied the love side of a man's life, the wife would be there to keep his household.

I would disagree. First, we need to know what the writer meant by 'ancient women'. Time period and geographical location is critical to a good answer. Women have been members of armies all over the world. Women have been rulers and merchants and shopkeepers throughout history. Women have also been slaves, concubines and wives. The role of a man or a woman is very dependent on the specific culture and time period under discussion.

It depended greatly on where the women were from. For example, in Ancient Egypt women had rights above and beyond those of women even in the 1900's. they had the right to legally divorce their husbands, and contest divorce in court, as well as the right to inherit property and own there own business. In Roman Pompeii, frescoes indicate that women had a large role in the family businesses, keeping the books and dealing with customers.

Answer

I like both of the answers above, but I think it's a matter of prevalence. First, let's define the "ancient world" as anything before 450 CE or so and the fall of the western Roman Empire. I recognize that this is somewhat arbitrary, but I think it's as good as any, even if it is Eurocentric.

In all times before the present in industrialized countries, the vast majority of people were rural, and lived and worked on farms. So, the vast majority of women had lives that were very similar to each other. And one thing ties them together: the spindle and the distaff. These were so symbolic of women and their work that we sometimes use the word "distaff" today when referring to the maternal side of a family. The Hittites had a magic ritual for curing impotence. The magician (usually a woman referred to by the literal term "old woman," but probably meaning a sort of witch/midwife) would give a man a spindle and a distaff and dress him in women's clothes. Then, she would take away the spindle and distaff and give the man a bow and spear, telling him he had now reentered the world of men.

So, the lot of women almost everywhere was to make thread and, ultimately, cloth. Making cloth was an ongoing chore that was practiced whenever a woman's hands weren't doing something else. It was typical in most farming communities for the women to gather in a central place, sharing child-watching, while making thread and, on occasion, collaborating on a loom to make cloth.

Certainly, the Egyptians had manufacturers who used male labor, but both male and female skeletons have been found with the bones deformed and flattened under the knee by working long hours on the horizontal, Egyptian loom.

Clearly, there were other occupations. Priestess, prostitute, priestess/prostitute, queen, business partner (there is a wonderful tablet from an Anatolian, Assyrian trader circa 1850 BCE to his wife in Assyria telling her to send him a certain kind of textile that is most popular with the Anatolians), retter, cook, bath slave, house slave, wetnurse, nanny, etc.

But the lot of most women was child rearing, light farm chores, and making cloth.

The roles of women were to do the more skillful and simpler tasks; and bear children while the men did the more labor some tasks and provide food.

Answer 3

According to Confucius, women were inferior to men. Even from birth. A baby girl was placed under her crib and given a piece of broken pottery as a symbol of her unworthiness. They were the 'property' of their fathers until they were married, and then they were at the disposal of their husband. They were not allowed education. Their only real 'job' was to birth a son. And if a woman during that time did not birth a son, her husband could take other wives.

Since women were not allowed to learn how to write, they wrote a secret language called Nushu in which they would write to each other. The men did not know of this.

Women were greatly oppressed in Ancient China.

Answer 4

Women of different classes in ancient Rome had slightly different "roles". although all women were expected to support their husband's interests. The poorer women would many times work along side of her husband either in the farm fields, helping serve food if her were a tavern owner, or in other ways helping to advance her family. She was also responsible for taking care of the household and children. The wealthier woman had the same basic duties as her poorer sister, but she was also expected to handle money efficiently and to oversee her children's education, suggest a marriage for the children, and in general promote her husband's interests. She also had a bigger house under her responsibility.

Answer 5

they helped to farm, like anybody, but the amount of rights they had varied from one city-state to the next.

Answer 6

One (Hatshepsut) was a Pharaoh.

Answer 7

the womans