Women In China And Egypt

Many times through out history women have played different roles in different civilizations. For instance Egypt and China, two different civilizations in which their women held many different political positions. For instance in China women seemed to be suppressed and were viewed as low as peasants if not even lower, while in Egypt it is a well known fact that women could be kings.

Chinese women were seen as an unwanted possession. Fathers and families did not want to have daughters it was every mans dream to have a son. The only thing that was valued was that you could have your daughter or daughters married off to other families to open up new political relations. Women were to obey all men in their livesÐ'... for instance their husbands, the man down the street, or even there own son. The ranking in a family was based solely around the male figure. So if women held little if any authority in their own household it should be safe to say that there is little chance that they could hold any positions of political power.

There are instances in which women had risen to the top for instance, Fu Hao, a wife of Wu Ding, who ruled China in the 13th century BC during the Shang Dynasty rose to the top. She owned land, led armies to battle, and became very well know. Her good fortune was most likely would not have happened if it were not for her husbands political power. In china at that time it was even illegal for women to even serve in the armyÐ'... so the case of Wu Ding was a rare situation.

Another largely successful civilization Egypt, had many different views on women rights to political power. Women in Egypt were able to own land and slaves, they were even aloud to remarry after divorce. Although in most cases women were not viewed as equals they had many freedoms. It is very well known that a women took the throne and ruled over Egypt. Although she was permitted to hold the throne, she appears in public dressed like