When addressing the topic of women’s rights in ancient society, it is safe to say that the case of women in ancient Egypt was a unique one. Ancient Egypt was technologically and societally advanced in many different ways. One of the ways ancient Egypt presented itself as a progressive society was the way that women were valued as virtual equals to their male counterparts both with women’s unique legal rights and their ability to run for political office.

According to Christopher Cogner’s article on ancient Egyptian feminism, women were able to do a multitude of different things pertaining to their legal rights. Some of these things were “represent themselves in court, motion for divorce, own and manage property, free slaves, and sue other people” (Cogner 1). The legal system clearly played no favorites when regarding men and women and allowed both of them to have equal power in the court of law. Even divorce was something that was allowed and was an extremely progressive topic.

Women were given an amazing amount of freedom in ancient Egyptian society, whereas many women of other cultures were seen as inferior to men and were told that their sole purpose was to serve the men of their community. It’s important that we recognize how advanced this culture was, especially since many of the freedoms that women have today have not been in action for very long. In some cultures today, women barely even have the right to drive a car, which shows how far ahead the ancient Egyptians were of the rest of us.