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Lives of Women in Ancient Rome V Lives of Women in Ancient Egypt

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Lives of Women in Ancient Rome V Lives of Women in Ancient Egypt
In ancient Rome, women possessed minimal freedoms in marriage and everyday life. In contrast, Egypt varied from that social structure as the women in Ancient Egypt played a more significant role in society when compared with the women of Ancient Rome. Ancient Egyptian women had a higher level of independence and a greater number of social, economic and political freedoms.
The process and rights of women when it came to marriage varied greatly between the women of Ancient Rome and those of Egypt, with Egyptian women having more say in the matter. Marriages in Ancient Rome were a business venture, in a sense. Marriages in Rome were often for money or a more prominent position in society. A woman’s marriage was arranged by her father and her consent was unnecessary.# Roman girls were normally married around the age of fourteen, but it was possible she could be engaged as young as the age of the seven.# Roman women could contest but even if she did her father’s vote overruled hers. In the home, Roman women ruled but had no more rights than their daughters in society.
Relationships in ancient Egypt were normally affectionate and faithful on both parts, male and female, whereas in Rome the husband could have affairs and the woman could not.# Marriages in Egypt were equal partnerships with the husband allowing his wife to rule in the home, # and marriages in Egypt were seen as a sacred union between a man and a woman. The husband treated the kitchen as his wife’s domain and could not complain about the cleanliness of anything within the home. Since, the Egyptians saw marriage as a sacred union and saw women as the point of happiness women were given the utmost respect. They were given free reign over the household and the husband had minimal say in what went in the home. Marriages were seen as an equal partnership with no one having total control unlike in Rome where the wife was subjugated and had no say in her own life. Women were married around the same

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