page_title: Women's rights
section_title: Egypt
hierarchical_section_title: Women's rights / History / Ancient history / Egypt
caption_attribution_description: English: Detail of Hatshepsut, Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, c. 1473-1458 B.C. Indurated limestone sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Hatshepsut is depicted in the clothing of a male king though with a feminine form. Inscriptions on the statue call her "Daughter of en:Re" and "Lady of the Two Lands." Most of the statue's fragments were excavated in 1929, by the Museum's Egyptian Expedition, near Hatshepsut's funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri in Thebes. The lower part of the statue was acquired by Karl Richard Lepsius and taken to Berlin in 1845. The head, left forearm, and parts of the throne were excavated by the Museum, 1926-27 season and acquired in the division of finds. The Berlin fragment was acquired by the Museum in an exchange in 1929.
context_page_description: Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide, and they formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movement during the 20th century. In some countries, these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others, they are ignored and suppressed. They differ from broader notions of human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls, in favor of men and boys.
  Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include the right to bodily integrity and autonomy, to be free from sexual violence, to vote, to hold public office, to enter into legal contracts, to have equal rights in family law, to work, to fair wages or equal pay, to have reproductive rights, to own property, and to education.
context_section_description: In ancient Egypt, women enjoyed the same rights under the law as a man, however rightful entitlements depended upon social class. Landed property descended in the female line from mother to daughter, and women were entitled to administer their own property. Women in ancient Egypt could buy, sell, be a partner in legal contracts, be executor in wills and witness to legal documents, bring court action, and adopt children.
caption: Statue of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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