4.3 Gender and Age
4.3.1 Scholars now tend to discern no fundamental difference in
the legal status between men and women.^197 Already in the Old
Kingdom women held rights in immovables.^198 One of the earliest
references to a land-transfer document is from the late Third Dynasty/
early Fourth Dynasty tomb of Metjen. The passage describes how
Metjen’s mother made a fimyet-prdocument in order to transfer land
not to her immediate heir, Metjen, but rather to her grandchildren.^199
So, too, in the considerably later Stela Berlin 24032 (First Intermediate
period) a man declares that he “acquired his property, while he was
still in the house of his father, but it was his mother, rather than
his father, who gave him the property or the means to acquire it.”^2004.3.2 Old Kingdom market scenes portray women participating
actively in the economy or “public spheres,” while in religious con-
texts, they functioned as priestesses, particularly of the goddess
Hathor.^201 The absence of women within the administrative bureau-
cracy is possibly due to social convention rather than explicit legal
prohibition.^202 Female involvement in “illegal” or “criminal” affairs
is, at least, suggested by the tantalizing reference to the trial of a
queen in the Biography of Weni.^2034.3.3 Women could be responsible for the private mortuary cult
and therefore benefit from the mortuary endowments.^204 Tjenti (Fifth(^197) Johnson, “Legal Status.. .,” 175. See further: Goedicke, Rechtsinschriften...,
38; Harari, “Capacité.. .,” 41–42; Gödecken, Meten.. ., 258–62; Franke, Verwandt-
schaftsbezeichnungen.. ., 334–39.
(^198) Eyre, “Work.. .,” 37. The common title nb.t-pr, “mistress of the house,” which
some scholars believe had a legal significance, only appears in the Middle Kingdom;
see Pestman, Marriage.. ., 11, correcting Wb. 1, 512/9.
(^199) Urk. 1, 2, 9–11; Johnson, “Legal Status.. .,” 177–78. Cf. also Goedicke,
Rechtsinschriften.. ., 17–18.
(^200) Fischer, “Nubian Mercenaries.. .,” 52, quoted in Théodoridès, “Propriété.. .,”
- See also Lichtheim, AEL1, p. 90.
(^201) Johnson, “Legal Status.. .,” 178. Feucht, Egyptians.. ., 315; Eyre, “Work...,”
37–38.
(^202) A royal edict is preserved which apparently records the appointment of a
woman to an office. However, the office named is unfortunately not preserved; see
Goedicke, Königliche Dokumente.. ., 201. In one case a woman receives the high title
of “vizier”; see Bryan, “In Women.. .,” 39. Cf. Feucht, Egyptians.. ., 344.
(^203) Johnson, “Legal Status.. .,” 176.
(^204) Urk. 1, 115–17. See Goedicke, Rechtsinschriften.. ., 108; Helck, Wirtschaftsgeschichte...,
85.
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