How was power distributed? Did men and women have equal rights and responsibilities?
Egyptian men and women had the same legal rights, but they had unequal social standings. Although women were allowed to participate in business and could own land, they were expected to obey their fathers and husbands.
In northern Europe, washing clothes and milking cows would be called ‘woman’s work’ unlike in Ancient Egypt both were carried out by men.
People nowadays think that the Ancient Egyptian women lived in an ideal world of equality, however was not the case. They may have had more rights and independence than in other ancient societies, but men did not treat them as equals.
The women’s choice of profession was narrowed down to being the mistress of the house, but some became priestesses, others entertainers and a very small handful even came to rule the country. But generally the life of an Ancient Egyptian woman was restricted down to doing household chores. Even though the average Ancient Egyptian man had barely more numerous professions. The women were not treated equal to men of the same social rank and had to follow stricter rules of stricter existence.
In theory the roles of men and women were different but largely equal. However in reality the roles were somewhat different. Women raised the children, took care of the daily needs, were responsible for the family, domestic relationships and did all of the household work. While the men taught their growing up boys their own trade and related to society. Men interpreted this as women serving them. This is why wives are often characterized in submission roles, such as baking bread, making beer and generally just looking after their husbands.
The women enjoyed quite a bit of independence in this male-dominated society