(Test #1 Question #3) Living in Ancient Egypt as a Woman From what can be gathered, living as a woman in ancient Egypt surpasses that of any other ancient civilization. Ancient Egyptian culture provided gender equality for women that was unprecedented in Gold Age Athens and ancient Rome. A few examples of the equality women experienced in ancient Egypt are: they were allowed to own and sell private property, initiate divorce, sue, adopt, free slaves, etc. Gold Age Athens and ancient Rome were comparable in the fact that they were patriarchal controlled civilizations that did not place high regard on women’s rights. It is for the many civil liberties ancient Egyptian women possessed, I would prefer to live in ancient Egypt if I was a woman.
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Having no ancient diaries/journals from a woman’s account, one can speculate the truth about their treatment. Most of the information that has been passed down through time about women in the Roman Empire, was written by men. While necessary to speculate, information about the women of the Roman Empire tells of the woman’s role as that of a child bearer. Unfortunately, the women of the Roman Empire had no choice on the matter of having children, it was mandatory. Evidence of the severity of not giving birth as a Roman woman, is proven by the Julian and Papia-Poppaean Laws passed by Augustus in 18 BC and 9 AD. The laws were passed as an effort to increase the declining Roman population and proved to be less than effective. Roman women were controlled by their fathers, who would sell them as slaves, choose their husband and also decide if they were no longer to be married. Oftentimes, Roman fathers would force their daughters into divorce if they had sought out a potential husband that came from a more prominent family that demonstrated greater financial …show more content…
Unlike many ancient cultures, the Egyptians did not restrict women to only birthing children and managing their home. Egyptian women had the right to adopt orphaned children if they could not give birth, giving them the choice to be a mother even if the child was not naturally their own. An Egyptian mother would choose the name of their child, showing that their culture contained less masculine control than others. Ancient Egyptian women had many legal rights. An example that supports these rights is the fact that an Egyptian woman could initiate litigation in court without any representation, which was not allowed for women in any other ancient civilization. Economically, Egyptian women shared matching rights with their male counterparts. Ancient legal documents prove that Egyptian women could manage and own livestock, land, money and
Having no ancient diaries/journals from a woman’s account, one can speculate the truth about their treatment. Most of the information that has been passed down through time about women in the Roman Empire, was written by men. While necessary to speculate, information about the women of the Roman Empire tells of the woman’s role as that of a child bearer. Unfortunately, the women of the Roman Empire had no choice on the matter of having children, it was mandatory. Evidence of the severity of not giving birth as a Roman woman, is proven by the Julian and Papia-Poppaean Laws passed by Augustus in 18 BC and 9 AD. The laws were passed as an effort to increase the declining Roman population and proved to be less than effective. Roman women were controlled by their fathers, who would sell them as slaves, choose their husband and also decide if they were no longer to be married. Oftentimes, Roman fathers would force their daughters into divorce if they had sought out a potential husband that came from a more prominent family that demonstrated greater financial …show more content…
Unlike many ancient cultures, the Egyptians did not restrict women to only birthing children and managing their home. Egyptian women had the right to adopt orphaned children if they could not give birth, giving them the choice to be a mother even if the child was not naturally their own. An Egyptian mother would choose the name of their child, showing that their culture contained less masculine control than others. Ancient Egyptian women had many legal rights. An example that supports these rights is the fact that an Egyptian woman could initiate litigation in court without any representation, which was not allowed for women in any other ancient civilization. Economically, Egyptian women shared matching rights with their male counterparts. Ancient legal documents prove that Egyptian women could manage and own livestock, land, money and