The Egypt Story ............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 either women, or 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, with 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.

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.

Even at the time of the Greeks, who learned a lot from the Egyptians, women had rights.

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 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 Khalifa Omar to tell him that it was quite noticeable that women in Egypt at that time were enjoying full rights. Islam was teaching 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.

In modern times, Egypt has many examples of women who played a great role. Mrs. Hoda Shaarawy, during the first half of the 20th century, led a great movement for women’s liberation and the right for education. Mrs. Safia Zaghlol was the wife of the great Egyptian leader who fought 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 by the Mosad (the Israeli intelligence). Today you will find women in Egypt who are great doctors, engineers, teachers, bankers, etc. They play a magnificent role in the life of Egypt.