Preview

Comparative Essay: How Do Women in Mesopotamia Compare to Women in Egypt Socially and Politically?

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
317 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparative Essay: How Do Women in Mesopotamia Compare to Women in Egypt Socially and Politically?
Comparative Essay: How Do Women In Mesopotamia Compare to Women In Egypt Socially and Politically?

Egyptian and Mesopotamian women have many similarities and differences politically and socially. These countries both had limited rights to their women, but they were not equal to men. Politically, Egyptian women had more opportunities and respect. They had more status than Mesopotamian women. They participated in their government more. They were allowed to hold government positions, such as the pharaoh, which is the ruler. Since they had a good status, they were respected and treated equally, unless they were a lower class. They also influenced their cities.
Politically, Mesopotamian women had little respect and no opportunities. They were not respected and not treated equally. They had a lower status then the men of Mesopotamia. Their job was to stay at home to take care of young, cook, and clean. They were not allowed to hold any government positions. They were also not allowed to have freedom compared to Mesopotamian women. Socially both Mesopotamian and Egyptian women had limited rights. In Egypt, the women were allowed to own property. They could even sell private property. They could divorce their spouse. They could free slaves. They could sue. They also could resolve legal settlements. Compared to Mesopotamian women, Egyptian women had more freedom. Mesopotamian women had less freedom than Egyptian women. Socially women who could afford statuses were usually royalty and were part of the royal family. Mesopotamian women could sell beer, or own their own business. They were really supposed to stay at home and do work. They were also seen as property. As you can see, the women in these civilizations have similar rights, but have many differences. Egyptian women were treated like goddesses. The Egyptian women get treated better than the Mesopotamian women. They both have limited rights. They were never equal to men. At least they had some

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    How did the Egyptian government and religion compare to Mesopotamia? How was it similar and how was it different?…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia and Classical India alike were both patriarchal societies. This is important because it shows how much we have advanced in women’s rights. Women in both civilizations were treated as property. While women in Classical India were protected, the rights they received were nowhere near the same as they were for men. Only men had the right to own property and make trades in both civilizations. Women were even treated poorly in the law codes. In the code of Hammurabi, if a woman’s husband died they would need to throw themselves in a fire. All women were to live for was their husbands. The patriarchal society of Classical India and Mesopotamia shows how women were treated and interacted with.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women in Egypt were treated better then women in Mesopotamia, India ,or China. Women in Mesopotamia, for example, could be beaten(as long as the stick was smaller than the husbands thumb) or drowned by their husbands, but women in Egypt divorce, own/inherit property, and participate in business ventures with their husbands.…

    • 6675 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia was very specific when it came to the laws. The Code of Hammurabi was very straight forward in the sense that woman controlled nothing. If the husband died the son inherited his possessions. If the son was young the wife got one-third of the land. When the boy grew up the land would become his. Many laws in the Code affected woman harshly. Sometimes the women didn’t do much of anything to deserve the consequence. For example, if a woman owned a tavern and didn’t take the right amount of corn for a drink, she was thrown into the water. Men of Mesopotamia were also very cautious about the women they married or “spent their time with”. You didn’t want to be with the wrong type of female whether it was for image purposes or just the type of marriage you were involving yourself with. Elite men rewarded each other with gifts of gold, horses, slaves etc. Although patriarchy was the way of life they did view their god as a woman whom they valued very much.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A huge division in these Middle Eastern civilization’s cultures were the formation of urbanization, and class systems. In Mesopotamia, a structured 3-part class system was developed, along with Hammurabi’s Law Code. The top class included land owning males and artisans, as well as royals and warriors. The middle class contained dependent people attached to land, and at the bottom was slaves employed for domestic work. Also the freedoms and some rights of women were lost around the second millennium. In Egypt, there too were classes, yet they weren’t as enforced and structured. Woman were held at a higher standard here because they weren’t secluded in the process of urbanization and class structure, like they were in Mesopotamia.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Code of Hammurabi clearly shows that men’s roles and rights were greater than a women’s. The roles of women in the Mesopotamia society were strictly defined. A wife was purchased from their father and was required to sign a contract with her husband. In reading Hammurabi’s Code, it is evident to me that a man could have several wives but a women could only be with one man. If she was caught with another, she and the man faced severe punishment. If a women decided she would like a divorce and disgraced her husband in public she would be convicted. If the husband decided to divorce his wife he must declare his intention and if not; then the wife would become a slave to his household.…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hunter Gatherer

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Mesopotamian women had absolutely not that many rights. The father had complete control over his daughter until she got married. He usually planned this when his daughter was a child. She had to listen to what her father said until she got married as well. He had the right to labour them in return for their keep. And if the father died then the mother would take over, if she did then the elder brother would take over. The marriage was more of a contract marriage. Whereas if the man wanted to get a divorce its up to him. If the women had debt prior to get married, the husband was responsible now for her debt. But, if her husband had debt she wasn’t responsible for his. During the divorce, if the wife had kids with her husband she is subject to get the custody of the children.…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One of the major differences between Egypt and Mesopotamia was that Egypt had a well-organized durable empire while Mesopotamia did not. In Egypt they had a centralized government which meant that there was only one ruler who was the pharaoh. In Mesopotamia they had city states and in each city state they had a different ruler. This made Mesopotamia unstable compared to Egypt. Another difference between them is that Mesopotamia wrote the first set of laws known as the Code of Hammurabi which was created in 3,000 B.C. This was a legal system which tried to bring justice but it set social inequality. In religious structure, they differed because Mesopotamia believed god was not on earth and Egypt believed their Pharaoh was a god.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the time of the two early civilizations of Mesopotamia and India, there were many similarities and differences between their social stratifications. One of the similarities was that crimes committed by a lower class citizen to a higher class citizen had much harsher punishments. Another similarity between the two civilizations would be the fact that the lowest social class was also the largest social class. But there were some differences between the two; like how they treated women. In early India, women were honored and adorned and in Mesopotamia they were basically just property.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The First Civilizations for the River Valley differed among class systems, gender roles, and even trading. Class systems determined whether or not you were high in ranking. Mesopotamia and Egypt both had different views on these class systems. Egypt had pharaohs, which were basically wealthy kings and queen who can control mass numbers of people. Gender roles between these civilizations varied between upper class men and woman to slaves. Upper class men and woman had more freedom than the enslaved people. Slaves were used strictly for work, and they received seldom food and shelter in return. Mesopotamia did not have that many natural resources; therefore, they had to trade with other civilizations to get the necessary needs. Egypt, on the…

    • 184 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Egypt and Mesopotamia had quite some differences in the comparison of gender. Women in Egypt were not treated equal to men but had more rights than other societies. They could sell, buy, and manage property. They also could work outside of their houses. Women were very dependent on their husbands to make decisions. It was not uncommon for a husband to beat his wife. In Mesopotamia women were not treated equal to men. They were not viewed as individuals and did not often work outside of the home. Women did have the ability to divorce and manage property under certain circumstances as time went on. Men were responsible to bring in food from hunting; they were higher up in the social classes, were the head of the household and in charge of the government. Women from Egypt and Mesopotamia were alike in that women were expected to take care of the household and both had a low status compared to…

    • 560 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The gender structure of ancient Egypt and India is different in many different ways. Most of these things change as time goes by but back then most of them are really different. In Egypt women were granted more freedom while in India women were like property's and were controlled by completing every men in their family.(Anne Wallace Sharp, S. Kambitsis) In India if a woman husband die, she is not allowed to remarry and can not be independent. (S. Kambitsis) While in Egypt remarrying is totally normal and fine. If a marriage isn't working well in Egypt, the two needs to solve it quietly and the wife would go back to her parents home. (Anne Wallace) The hot weather in Egypt caused everyone including men and women to shave their head and wear wigs.(Anne Wallace) The weather in India is not that bad so they all still have their own hair and women really liked to accessories.(S.Kambitsis) Man of higher Varna in India is allowed by law to take any woman he wished. He can also sell his wife and children if he wanted or needed to.(essortment.com) Women in Egypt are treated with respect and they were as equal as men. (Anne Wallace)…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Egypt was a monarchy and Mesopotamia was a democracy. In Egypt, the Pharaoh was in charge of making laws and owned everything, meanwhile, in Mesopotamia, there were many kings in different city-states and they did not own people’s belongings. A difference is that the land was measured differently. In Mesopotamia, they divided the land into city-states. Also, both civilizations thought differently about their kings. In Egypt, the Pharaoh was considered a god. Meanwhile, Mesopotamia believed that the kings weren’t gods so they didn’t worship them as gods. At one point, when the Assyrians were expanding a lot, the city-state got cut up into provinces. The ancient egyptians wrote hieroglyphics about the profits, costs and laws civilians made. In Mesopotamia, the scribes would draw pictograms on clay boards. While Egyptians trusted their justice goddess to teach right from wrong among their citizens, Mesopotamians would follow Hammurabi's law that demanded and Eye for an Eye. With this law, the offended person would be free to do the same thing he suffered at the hands of the criminal. In Mesopotamia would have a voice and a vote for city matters as going to war or not meanwhile Egypt didn’t have a voice. Everything was decided by the Pharaoh. So after all, there are differences and similarities between these dissimilar civilizations that…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion there were many similarities and differences between Mesopotamia and Egypt. They both created different things to try to improve societies. They were similar in some aspects and different in…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Roman Empire, women supervised the household, and also could inherit property. Although they were greatly confined to domestic duties, they had limited freedom, depending on the husband. In the Athens, the only freedom the women had was the domestic duties. They lived in buildings separate from their husband, and could not even eat meals with them. This is very different from the Minoans civilization. They worshipped many female gods, which resulted in them having a great respect for the women of their societies. The women were equals with men, and had a great amount of freedom.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays