Egyptian women who rocked the world:

Most people misjudge Egypt and the other countries in the East, especially in the Middle East, whether it comes to ancient Egypt or even modern Egypt. Regarding ancient Egypt, people only think of the pharaohs and gods, without giving any attention to neither women, nor the locals in general. And when it comes to modern Egypt, they always mention Islam as the main oppression of women, which is totally wrong.

Let's talk about some examples of women throughout the history of Egypt. 

Around 4500 years ago, at the time when the king of Egypt was considered the god king and the main link to the gods, women, especially the members of the royal families, had a great position. By the end of the third dynasty, Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh called Huni, who was building his pyramid in Meidum to the south of Giza near Cairo.

Prince Snefru was married to his daughter, the mother of the famous pharaoh Cheops, Queen Hetepheres. She was buried not far from the pyramid of her son at the Giza plateau. Her tomb and the treasures discovered there reflect the power and the wealth of that queen around 2600 B.C.

After the fall of the middle kingdom, Egypt became very weak, and the north of the country was invaded by the Hyksos around 1750 B.C. The Hyksos ruled Lower Egypt for more than two centuries, during which Upper Egypt was almost independent, and was ruled by a series of real true Egyptian princes.

These princes claimed to be the kings of Upper and Lower Egypt. During that time of instability in Egypt, there lived a woman who happened to be the wife of the prince and later pharaoh Sekenenre. She was Queen Titisherry, a wonderful woman, a great queen and a loving wife. She stood by her husband in his struggle against the foreign people who occupied the northern part of his kingdom. Queen Titisherry conceived two sons who ruled one after the other. Kamose, who died during the struggle, and Ahmose, who managed to sweep the invaders away and to unite the country. Pharaoh Ahmose was the founder of the eighteenth dynasty and the new kingdom, as well as the Egyptian empire.

Around 1400 B.C., nearly 3400 years ago, when the rest of the human race was still living in caves acting like monkeys, Egypt was ruled by a very strong, powerful woman, whose name will remain forever Queen Hatshepsut.

She ruled for around 22 years in the middle of the time when men ruled the whole earth, and she managed to gain the respect of her enemies before her friends the queen maintained very strong relations with the other neighbors, especially in Africa, and she built a number of magnificent monuments. The best of all was her mortuary temple of el Dir el Bahari on the west bank of Luxor. She erected two massive obelisks at Karnak Temple, and added two of the main pylons there.

Not a long time after, lived an amazing woman, queen Ti, who was married to the very famous pharaoh Amenhotep III. Although Queen Ti did not have royal blood, it seems she was the actual ruler next to her husband. The queen was a great support to her son Akhenaten later on, just as his great wife Nefertiti.

Perhaps the best example, someone like Ramses the Great would not be that great without his royal wife, and his great love, Queen Nefertari, who helped her husband to become one of the greatest rulers of the ancient Egyptian civilization. When you look at all his statues, you can't find any statue without a small statue of the queen behind his left leg. Although the statue of the queen was always smaller than that of the king, the size was not important if we know that the king was a God king and a Devine person, while the queen was a human being. She stood always behind him to support him and to push him always forward to do the best for his country. If we visit the temples of Abu Simple, south of Aswan, we find two temples there, one for the kind and the other one for the queen. And there the statues of the queen are as big as those of the king because she was considered a Goddess and a Devine person. It seems that the king believed that behind every successful man is a great woman.

In different parts of Egypt, we discovered remains of the villages of the builders and workers, such as in Giza and in Luxor, and the documents from those villages tell us a lot about the situation of women thousands of years ago. At the time when women in Europe were hardly living, the women, wives and mothers, daughters and sisters of the artisans were enjoying full rights of inheritance and free will.

When the Greeks arrived in Egypt, they have learnt from the ancient Egyptians that women have equal rights to men.

Queen Cleopatra,

though she had Greek origins, was an Egyptian queen. She was born in the tenth generation of the Greeks in Egypt, was brought up and educated in Egypt, spoke Egyptian language and worshipped Egyptian gods. She lived, died and was buried in Egypt more than 2000 years ago.

When the Arabs arrived in Egypt during the first half of the 7th century AD, the leader of the Arabs (Amro Ibn El Aas) wrote to the Caliph Omar to tell him that it was quite noticeable that women in Egypt at that time were enjoying full rights. Islam taught the Egyptians how to behave and respect women, which prepared them to accept a woman later on as a ruler, Queen Shagar Ell Dor around the 12th century AD.

Women were not any less important in modern day Egypt , that can be seen in the role that Mrs. Hoda Shaarawy, played during the first half of the 20th century, she led a great movement for women’s liberation and the right for education. Many other women had great roles in modern Egyptian history, such as, Mrs. Safia Zaghlol, who stood by her husband in his mission to lead the struggle against the British occupation. Mrs. Gihan Al Sadat set an early new law for women’s justice during the 1970’s. Professor Samira Mousa worked in the Egyptian nuclear project in the 1960’s, and later worked in Iraq until she was assassinated in Paris. Today you will find women in Egypt who are great doctors, engineers, teachers, bankers, etc. They play a magnificent role in the Egyptian life.

By: Hisham El.Meniawy