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Egypt, which is also an "ancient civilization" with China, only truly freed itself from British colonial control after 1953. In the 80s of the 20th century, Egypt entered a period of rapid development that gradually became modern.
Influenced by colonial rule, religious beliefs, traditional culture and other factors, women still suffer a certain degree of discrimination in real life. People at all levels of society are beginning to realize that it is not enough to empower women in areas such as education and work.
Even so, it still could not solve the problems of gender discrimination that women would suffer at work or domestic violence in the family, so these became important issues for Egyptian women to enter society at that time.
However, in ancient Egypt, compared to other feudal civilizations, the rights and status of women were exemplary. Its status can already compete with men!
Background to modern Egyptian feminism
Ancient Egypt is one of the four ancient civilizations in history, and it is also a country with a long history famous all over the world.
However, women living in such a country had the lowest status of all countries at the time. Whether in daily life, in the workplace and at home, they were discriminated against by their fellow men, and not only that, but the coverage of cultural and social power of Egyptian women at that time was limited.
So when did this low status of women in Egypt begin? According to the data, ancient Egypt originally had a clear rule as early as the time of the pharaohs that every adult male could only marry one legal wife.
But even so, many times Egyptian men treated their wives as slaves, not only in the families of ordinary men, but also in their lofty pharaohs.
Compared with the idea of equality between men and women in today's society, ancient Egypt is very advanced in dealing with women's rights.
As the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance, and so do the people of Egypt. They have waged a fierce campaign against the egregious phenomenon of frequent harassment of women. Not surprisingly, the campaign has received strong support from Egyptian women, who hope to raise awareness of gender equality issues.
But, even more tragically, the women's liberation movement for equality between men and women was seen by the vast majority of Egyptian men as a meaningless show. Many men ran to the event to make trouble, throwing away flags and uttering a lot of insulting language about women.
In general, Egypt today is still a predominantly male country, and the vast majority of women in their country are forced to stay at home and stay at home with their husbands and children, and their lives may be just kitchen-to-bedroom, and bedroom-to-kitchen.
Rising to the top and advancing the ladder, the rise of women's rights in Egypt
In the ancient feudal society, the status of women has always been condemned by contemporary society. Because women at that time were always weak, and not just weak, but in most cases they were used as bargaining chips or mortgages.
In ancient Egypt, most men would participate in the management of state affairs, but with the development of society, the status of women in society was also affirmed and supported by law.
In the ancient perception of the feudal ruling class, they believed that only by marrying their daughters could they inherit the throne after their death to descendants of pure blood.
The royal family of ancient Egypt stipulated that their succession to the throne could only be based on the princess as the absolute heir, even if the princess did not inherit the throne, then the successor to the throne must be married to the princess to truly obtain the right to inherit the throne.
It is precisely because of the problems of succession to the throne that some pharaohs, out of these considerations, also officially raised the status of women in the law.
At the same time, it is also in this social context that Egyptian women have gradually occupied a higher position. Ancient Egyptians also attached great importance to religious beliefs, and in their beliefs, gods were supreme beings, which was also an important reason for the advancement of women in ancient Egypt.
From this time on, the status and power of women in ancient Egypt in society was almost equal to that of men, which can also be said to be a path paved by each Egyptian pharaoh for the next heir, and also to be able to develop his country in a better and better direction.
As one of the four ancient civilizations, ancient Egypt's social status at that time has developed to a certain height, and the people in their country have a relatively open and optimistic attitude in their ordinary life, and they dare to face many new things.
Similarly, this attitude of their citizens to life has contributed to a certain extent to the advancement of women in society. Women were increasingly accepted in all aspects of daily life and work, and it was also influenced by the system that the throne could only be inherited by princesses at that time, so women in the private sector were also able to inherit at this time.
This is undoubtedly a very celebratory event for the majority of women in ancient Egypt, and as a result, women's participation in daily family affairs has gradually increased. More and more women can participate in the various divisions of labor such as the state, the family and work, and not only that, but women also occupy a certain position in the inheritance of family property.
The people of ancient Egypt also attached great importance to religious beliefs, so in order to express their respect for the gods, they expressed this respect and their truest emotions in respect for women, so that the status of women has made a qualitative leap.
Ancient Egypt as a large agricultural production country, naturally regarded the land as very important, they believe that only when they have a certain amount of land, they may have the hope of survival, on the basis of agricultural development and cultural prosperity, Egypt's people for the degree of cultural absorption has also been visible progress, people's minds began to become more open, the idea of female inferiority and male dignity has no effect on them.
Therefore, people in Egypt do not have too many people stand up against the improvement of women's status, but more accept, so that Egyptian women have obviously occupied a high position, so women have naturally become the occupants of the land.
In this context, Egyptian men naturally lost a lot of land in their hands, and they had to rely on women if they wanted to survive, so that the only way to obtain the right to use the land was through marriage with a woman, but it was only the right to use, and the ownership of the land was still in the hands of women.
When they had the leverage to live on, Egyptian women naturally reduced their dependence on their families and men.
As a symbol of the female image, the Egyptian goddess Mute has played an indispensable role in the elevation of women's status to a certain extent, and men have fully expressed their respect and worship for gods to women in real life.
Abundant food and clothing, living and working in peace and contentment, the embodiment of Egyptian women's rights
In ancient Egypt, although the number of men participating in the management of state affairs was greater than the number of women, because the status of women had been clearly stipulated in the law, it had been affirmed, and in their legal provisions, the power and status that women could have were fully affirmed, and the equality between men and women stipulated and recognized by the law was affirmed.
In ancient Egypt, men and women worked together and worked hard, taking advantage of this gift of nature brought by the Nile to develop agriculture, food and clothing, and to further promote handicrafts and commerce.
In this process, women are able to participate in the work on an equal footing with men and receive corresponding economic remuneration. On the one hand, women assist men in agricultural production, and they mostly participate in gleaning, sowing, rubbing, winemaking, etc., which do not require great strength, and so on, and like men, they begin to sow after the flooding of the Nile, begin their harvest at the time of the rolling wheat waves, and toiling on the threshing fields full of grain.
Many murals and sculptures, such as "The Girl Who Made Ale", can vividly reflect the participation of women in production and labor in ancient Egypt.
On the other hand, women can also participate in lighter production jobs such as handicrafts, textiles and wig manufacturing. By working as midwives, mourners, dancers, singers, etc., women can provide some service work for society and receive corresponding remuneration for their work.
For the profession of "mourner", the custom at the time was that after the death of a loved one, it was necessary to cry mourning to express mourning and complete religious sacrifice ceremonies. This was a serious profession at the time, and many women were hired to weep in order to increase the scene of grief. Direct evidence of this social phenomenon can be found in the tomb paintings of the ancient Egyptians.
In addition, women are involved in business, and they can make simple exchanges in the region as traders. It's as if the wife of a tomb robber in the twentieth dynasty of the New Kingdom is asked, "Where did you get the money for the slaves?" The woman replied, "The money is obtained by exchanging the fruit in the vegetable garden." ”
Herodotus recorded in the History:
"The Egyptians seem to behave and in their customs and habits are contrary to the general patterns of human beings. For example, women participate in markets and trade, while men stay at home and engage in textiles. ”
This is the complete opposite of the customs and habits that other countries exhibit.
Although this was not a universal phenomenon at the time, it did exist, and it was a manifestation of women's equal participation in agriculture, commerce, handicrafts, and this right ensured that they were commensurately paid for their work and maintained a more independent family status.
The development of feminism in Egypt is closely related to the national independence and social change of the country. The vast number of Egyptian women can neither ignore the grand proposition of national liberation and class struggle, nor blindly seek to oppose men, but should establish a correct concept of women's liberation and realize the diversified development of feminism in the new era and new background.
The reason why women's rights in Egypt are rising with each passing day
Today, in contrast, in secular life, the status of ancient Egyptian women is also very high. The Association of Women Doctors in charge is free to do business. A papyrus scroll from the time of Ramses III records the following sentence, which fully demonstrates their right to freedom and respect:
"They come and go freely and can go wherever they want without anyone interfering."
The specific reasons for the emergence of women's rights in ancient Egypt are closely related to the social characteristics of their unique matrilineal clans, and compared with other Eurasian civilizations in recent times, women in ancient Egypt were given more rights.
In terms of its origin, ancient Egyptian civilization was formed earlier, and it was in the stage of transition from a matrilineal clan society to a patrilineal clan society, which naturally retained many characteristics such as "male and female interdependence and relative equality in gender relations" in the matrilineal clan society.
Because the matrilineal clan society existed "about 5,500 to 10,000 years ago", and the ancient Egyptian civilization was formed around 6,000 years ago. Therefore, ancient Egyptian civilization has been in the transition period from the matrilineal clan to the patrilineal clan society since its birth, and the legacy of the matrilineal clan society remains.
On the one hand, matrilineal clans occupied an important position in ancient Egyptian society, and mothers had the right to distribute their own inheritance and could designate someone other than the direct heir as heirs. Their daughters have the right to inherit, inherit property and status from their mother's family, and they are even proud of the glory of their mother's family.
At the same time, the mother had an influence in the genealogy of the theory of paternal blood, and the ancient Egyptians believed that names were part of man, "Ancient Egyptian women did not have to change their original names after marriage, and mothers were also the ones who gave names to their children, sons could borrow the father's name, daughters could borrow the mother's name, but the most common and most accustomed practice was to repeat the name of their grandparents." ”
On the other hand, in the field of culture, it is also open to women, and after women have the ability to read and write, they have capital that can compete with men in competition, and women's right to education is also recorded and based in the unwritten law of ancient Egypt.
In addition to the above, the ancient Egyptian legal system also underwent a transformation from theocratic law to customary law and then to statutory law during this period, and the content and expression of women's rights can be found in archaeological discoveries about ancient Egyptian customary law and theocratic law.
"In any case, the rights of women in ancient Egypt are also an inspiration to us." At the same time, it is also hoped that with the development of modern civilization, the status of women will become higher and higher, not degraded, and it is also hoped that the true sense of equality between men and women can be achieved.
epilogue
The arduous development of feminism in Egypt is a microcosm of the feminist problems in the Arab world. Unlike Western feminism, which holds the supremacy of discourse.
Egyptian feminism is neither a purely women's issue nor a simple gender relations issue. There are also anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-feudal autocracy inherited from colonial history.
The development of feminism in Egypt is closely related to the national independence and social change of the country. The vast number of Egyptian women can neither ignore the grand proposition of national liberation and class struggle, nor blindly seek to oppose men, but should establish a correct concept of women's liberation and realize the diversified development of feminism in the new era and new background.
Bibliography:
《History》
Women of Ancient Egypt
The Egyptian Women's Movement in the Twentieth Century
Western Feminism