Women in Egypt
The role of women in Egypt has changed significantly from ancient times to the modern era.
Early archaeological records show that Egyptian women were considered equal to men, regardless of marital status. They could own property, initiate divorce, and hold positions of religious and political authority, as exemplified by figures such as Hatshepsut and Cleopatra. However, their status declined over time under the successive rule of the misogynistic Roman Empire, the Christian Byzantine Empire, and later various Islamic states. While Islamic law granted women rights that were often denied in the West, such as the right to own property and greater marital autonomy, it also promoted gender segregation and restricted women’s participation in public life. Nevertheless, elite women continued to wield influence through patronage and familial networks.
Beginning in the 19th century, the Egyptian women’s rights movement emerged alongside broader campaigns for modernization, national identity, and independence from colonial rule. Feminist leaders such as Huda Sha'rawi, Zaynab al-Ghazali, and Doria Shafik advocated for women's political and social rights, especially after women were denied suffrage following the 1919 revolution and Egypt's formal independence in 1922. A major milestone came with the 1952 Egyptian Revolution: the new regime affirmed gender equality under the law, expanded access to higher education, and, under the 1956 constitution, granted women the right to vote and run for public office. Throughout the 20th century, women made gains particularly in education and healthcare. However, challenges remain: women’s participation in the workforce is still critically low, and gender-based violence and legal inequality persists.
History
Women in ancient Egypt
Women were stated lower than men when it came to a higher leader in the Egyptian hierarchy counting his peasants. This hierarchy was similar to the way the peasants were treated in the Middle Ages. As children, females were raised to be solely dependent upon their fathers and older brothers. When women married, they depended on their husbands to make all decisions, while the women themselves were depended upon to carry out household chores.Women have traditionally been preoccupied with household tasks and child rearing and have rarely had opportunities for contact with men outside the family. Royal Egyptian women had great impact on Egyptian Society. Queen Tiye, the grandmother of King Tut was so enmeshed in politics that neighboring King Mitanni wrote to her to ensure good will between their people when her son Akhenaten ascended to the throne. Queen Aahmose was awarded the golden flies for military valor.
Cleopatra and Nefertiti were among the better known rulers in Egyptian society. Cleopatra was known to have ruled with Marc Antony around 31 BC and she was also the Co-regent of her two husband-brothers and her son. Nefertiti was the chief wife of an Egyptian pharaoh, Amenhotep IV. Nefertiti was known to be an active Egyptian woman in society, as well as her children. In addition to female Egyptian rulers, Hatshepsut usurped the throne and reigned in Egypt as pharaoh from about 1479 to 1458 B.C. She based most of Egypt's economy on commerce.
Though not many women have acted as rulers in Egyptian society, they have been considered to be equal among men in status as well as legal opportunities. Women were shown to be allowed the opportunity to take part in the economy, such as their role as merchants, as it happened later in the Roman Empire, specially among the lower classes. Women had also taken part in religious activities, such as those who were priestesses. In the Sixth Dynasty Nebet became a Vizier and thus the first woman in History to fulfill such an office.
Women could also own property, divorce their husbands, live alone and occupy main positions, mostly religious, in similarity with Assyrian women. Only the children from the Great Royal Wife could expect to succeed to the throne, and if there were no son but daughters by her, then a son by another wife or concubine could only get the throne by marrying the heir daughter, and whoever did so would become the new King. Either through political and/or religious power, some women managed to become, de facto or de jure, the highest office holders in the kingdom, and share a status of co-rulers with men, even being depicted in monuments with the same height as their husbands or otherwise and even as the other Gods of Egypt.
Such were the cases of Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, Nefertari and the Nubian Egyptian Queens. The further Nubian Queens were able to maintain this status. The most important religious offices of that kind were those of God's Wife and God's Wife of Amun. Politically, they often managed to become Interregnum queens. In the Ptolemaic Dynasty this rise to power was sublimated with the establishment of a coregency system, in which Queens had the same position as Kings and were even powerful enough to obtain in dispute that coregency for themselves.
Women in Roman Egypt
Following Octavian's victory over Marcus Antonius and Kleopatra VII in 31 BCE, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire. This marked the end of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the beginning of Roman rule in Egypt.The legal status of women in Roman Egypt depended on their social background and citizenship. Roman women in Egypt followed Augustan laws that encouraged marriage and childbirth, promoting family growth. Roman women in the province were legally and socially subordinate to men, subject to Augustan laws promoting marriage and childbirth, reinforcing their roles as wives and mothers in line with Roman family ideals. Egyptian women had traditionally enjoyed more legal independence under earlier Pharaonic and Ptolemaic systems. However, under Roman rule, they were increasingly required to follow Greek customs that mandated the presence of a male guardian —a father, husband, or male relative—for major transactions. While Ptolemaic Egypt had recognized both Demotic and Greek contracts, Roman authorities discouraged Demotic language use, making Greek written contracts dominant by the end of the first century CE. In 212 CE, the Constitutio Antoniniana granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire, including Egypt. This extended Roman legal norms to many local women. Compared to Greek law, Roman law was somewhat less restrictive: it required male authorization for fewer transactions. Additionally, the Jus trium liberorum granted legal independence to women who had borne three or more children.Marriage laws under Roman rule also reinforced social boundaries. The Lex Minicia discouraged marriages between Roman citizens and non-citizens by assigning children the lower status of their parents, limiting opportunities for upward social mobility. These measures helped the Roman state maintain control over the urban elite of Hellenized cities.
During the Roman period, intermarriage became quite common, with nearly a quarter of the population engaging in marriages between siblings and half-siblings. Wealthy families practiced intra-family marriages to preserve their material wealth within the family, while among poorer families, such marriages were often a strategy to avoid dowry costs for daughters. This practice declined significantly after the Constitutio Antoniana.
Census data from 11 to 257 CE show a low life expectancy in Roman Egypt. At birth, males had a life expectancy of about 25 years, and females about 22 years. Nearly half of all children died before age five. Women who survived early childhood typically lived into their forties. Most women married in their mid-to-late teens, while urban women tended to marry slightly later. Husbands were usually older, with age gaps ranging from two to thirteen years. Childbirth was a leading cause of death among women.
In the third century CE, during a period of instability in the Roman Empire, Egypt was briefly seized by Zenobia, queen of the Palmyrene Empire. A highly ambitious and capable ruler, Zenobia expanded her kingdom after the assassination of her husband, King Odaenathus, who had been a key Roman ally against the Sassanids. Around 270 CE, she capitalized on Rome’s weakened control and launched a military campaign that extended Palmyrene rule over Egypt and much of the eastern provinces, claiming to act in the interests of her young son, Wahballath. Her control over Egypt, a vital supplier of grain to Rome, posed a significant threat to Emperor Aurelian. However, her reign was short-lived; by 272 CE, Aurelian launched a decisive campaign, defeating Zenobia’s forces and besieging her capital, Palmyra. Zenobia was eventually captured while attempting to flee to the Sassanid Empire, and her fate remains uncertain.
The rise of Christianity in Egypt in the third and fourth centuries CE opened new religious roles for women. With the end of persecution and the official recognition of the Church in 313 CE, women became influential figures in early Christian communities. Some became saints, martyrs, and ascetics.