What did Women Learn in Ancient Egypt, and how did they Learn it?

Most of our knowledge about women in ancient Egypt comes from sources produced by and for elite men, reflecting what elite men thought women knew, or should know; reading between the lines, perhaps we can discover more.

Women’s knowledge differed enormously according to their social status, where they lived, their husband’s work and their own. Nonetheless, the social norm and ideal, constantly represented on tomb walls, votive stelae and in wisdom texts and literature, was for a woman to be mistress of her house, involving practical and social skills that women would learn from their social environment. The Wisdom of Ani (B16, 2) recommends a husband to teach his wife to be “a (full, mature) human being,” reflecting the experiential learning of building a life and family together.

Literacy was limited in ancient Egypt, even more so for women, but some women certainly performed tasks demanding literacy. It is uncertain if they attended school or learnt privately, and to what extent they absorbed the cultural norms and ideals that an official scribal education entailed.

An understanding of work associated with women may indicate the skills required and perhaps how women learnt them, whether through working alongside more experienced workers and gradually acquiring the knowledge of a process and the necessary skills, or through explicit instruction.