Even privileged Egyptian women never gained social equality with men

Evidence

But even in times when they had a privileged status, unique in the ancient world, they were not socially equal to men; taking part in religion and government, they could have the role of regent, but the pharaoh was male; priests and warriors were males; woman’s role in public life was a secondary one; and in private life, fidelity was required of her without reciprocity. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 187

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Beauvoir slices the best-case historical example and still finds systematic otherness — legal rights never confer social parity, a subtle point that resists one-sentence summary.
• XREF: connects to: Women were never a caste but the absolute Other without reciprocity — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 319

Broader Connections

• Women were never a caste but the absolute Other without reciprocity #corroborates (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 319