Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Abstracts of Papers

XICE – Abstract of Papers
Androcentric to interpretative: testing the validity of the current explicit
assumptions of female literacy in ancient Egypt
Daniel Jones
Approaches to the topic of female literacy in ancient Egypt are piecemeal and have
rendered the topic elusive within the literature. Although we have no evidence to
support the view that any section of Egyptian society was intentionally restricted from
acquiring the tools and techniques necessary to negotiate private or professional tasks
and lives, there is a commonly held view that women were largely denied access to
literacy along with the 'middle' and “lower” classes in general. The apparent
dominance of the male sex in the archaeological record is considered indicative of the
norm and therefore the only terms of reference on which to base interpretations of
female literacy. Evidence does suggest that a gender distinction did exist as part of the
formal structure of society, which resulted in the experience of women being different
to that of men. However, even with this in mind the only way to understand female
literacy is to seek out parallels with the male use of the skill. This has reinforced the
standard view of primary man and secondary woman in Egytpian society in that men
not only wielded physical strength over women but also exercised mental/intellectual
strength. SØRENSEN (2000, 17) states, “pottery production, when ascribed to women,
was consistently considered a domestic activity, while it became a craft or industry if
associated with men”.
In ancient Egypt, writing palettes associated with women are a signifier of
domestic pastime activities such as painting, drawing, and cosmetics, while they
become active instruments of power demonstrating literate skills when associated
with men. It is therefore a fair assumption that literacy within an Egyptian context is
generally considered a “masculine” entity. But is that really what the evidence is
telling us? Material involving women can be viewed as explicit as that found for men,
however it seems that all they can hope to be is semi-literate or had no other
alternative but to call on a man for literacy skills. It is taken as a given that the
surviving material involving men constitutes “direct” evidence for literate capabilities.
As the material involving women does not conform to our standard view on how
literacy manifested itself in Egyptian society, it remains “indirect”, sub-standard, and
insignificant. There is no justification for such a view and it stifles female material
from realising its full interpretative potential.
One of the fundamental problems with approaches to female literacy is the lack of
explicit theorising and methodology construction on how the empirical reality of
female literacy in ancient Egypt can be achieved. The literature is awash with
unfounded comments on the topic, which is the result of an Empiricist approach to
literacy in general. There is a belief that through the collective observations of
surviving material the reality of what the Egyptians understood by the term literacy
has been revealed; an understanding very much like our own. This standard view of
literacy derives from the ideational proposition that if you compile enough data the
reality/truth of how literacy was manifested in Egyptian society will be revealed.
Collective observations of the extensive surviving material involving men are
considered justification for the view that literacy was a job (scribe)-specific skill, that
the only form of literacy was professional literacy, a pre-occupation of the elite only,
and a skill owned by men.
The effect is that the past is considered to have spoken for itself, revealing that
literacy in an Egyptian context was utilised in a particular way —the male way. It is
acceptable to assume that this situation did not alter throughout c.3000 years of
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