le amount of social freedom. They could travel about freely in towns without veiled faces. In their own homes, women could move about as they pleased, they were not forced to remain in one section of the house or forbidden from other common areas as they were in other societies of the time. Women could initiate legal proceedings, and they were responsible for their own actions. They could be the executors of wills and even sign their own marriage contracts. A woman could even be the witness for a signed business transaction.While women did have the same legal standing as men in their society, there is hardly any mention of a woman serving as a member of the court. Ancient Egyptian courts were composed of members of the society who were trusted and revered. Marriage did not affect a woman’s legal standing; a married woman had the same rights as a single one. This is because property did not automatically transfer over to the husband after he married a woman. Rather she remained in control of all of her assets until the day that she would die. Her land and her affairs remained hers, unaffected by her mate. In fact, a woman in ancient Egypt had the legal right to loan money to her husband. Many scenes, drawn in tombs, depict the social freedom of women. They are shown partaking in business transactions with their husbands, and at times, some women were even executing their own business ventures. At hunts, they are shown in crowds cheering for the success of the hunters, and women are shown sitting along side of men at great gatherings and feasts.While women in ancient Egypt were not free in terms of most of today’s societies, neither were men. Neither man nor woman knew anything of the modern concept of liberty and equality. Their society was hierarchical, and not based on free will. During the Ptolemaic period of Egyptian history, Greek women enjoyed a much higher status living in Egypt, than they would have ba...
