Status of women in Ancient Egypt

Abstract

The article discusses, on the base of extant evidence (medical papyri, wisdom literature, poetry, fairy tales, correspondence, archaeological evidence etc.) the status of woman in Ancient Egypt, perception of women, pregnancy and birth. It is extremely difficult for a modern European person living in secular world to perceive the mentality of a woman in Ancient Egypt because her social and cultural environment was immersed with religion. Every mother was included in the Isis myth; a pregnant woman enjoyed a status close to a sacred one. There were plenty of divinities and rituals related to pregnancy and childbirth. Egyptian family was nuclear and monogamous and was looked upon as a basis of the society. The woman in Ancient Egypt had a rather high social and legal status close to one of the Egyptian man. The elite strata women were literate and could obtain positions of priestesses. A woman who had many children was considered ‘successful’, evoking everyone’s admiration; barrenness was frowned upon in society and, more, it was a sign of divine anger asabsence of a heir endangered the continuity of the cult of dead, which was pivotal 
for the Egyptian mentality. In medical texts some methods of early diagnostic of pregnancy are mentioned. The childbirth was more social than medical event for ancient Egyptians. That is supported by absence of information about childbirth in medical papyri. The childbirth took place in woman’s house in a special pavilion or hut. The woman in labour was squatting on the floor, on two bricks or on the special chair with midwives assisting her by spells and rational medical methods. There is no evidence of abortion in Ancient Egyptian literature; however, contraception was widely used by Egyptian women. Motherhood was considered the main female vocation and marriage was the way to fulfill it.