Women's rights in ancient Egypt

Women’s rights
Unlike the position of a woman in other ancient cultures (e.g. Greece), the status of an Egyptian female seems to have been legally the same as such of an Egyptian male. This, of course, would depend on the current period and on the social standing of a woman.
As it appears from architectural and artistic finds as well as from legal documents that have been discovered, a woman had nearly all the rights you can name. She had the right to buy, possess, control and get rid of property, e.g. land, things, servants, slaves, stock etc. She also could enter any contract, get married, get divorced, liberate slaves, make a testament, sue… She didn’t need a male representative for any of these things—at least in theory. Although women in principle had these rights, it is probable that they rarely really got to make use of them. The women in the lower classes might not have had the same rights as the middle- or upper-class women, and even if they did, they probably didn’t acknowledge them. It is estimated that only 0,1 % of the women in ancient Egypt could read.

Women’s occupations
Undoubtedly in the upper and middle classes the women stayed home, taking care of the house and the family while the men were at work. This was seldom an easy task. It could include taking care of fruit and vegetable gardens, making clothes, weaving the cloth for clothes, taking care of the (usually large amount of) children, cleaning etc. All of this was not an obligation of the law, but probably a consequence of women being mothers and housekeepers for as long as mankind could remember.
The “top five” of women’s occupations could look like this: 1) housekeeper, 2) servant 3) worker 4) field hand 5) slave. However, documents that prove that women owned and ran offices of some kind during The Old Kingdom have been discovered. Surprising exceptions have been found too, for example, a female priest and, of course, the few female pharaohs. These, however, are very rare findings and only a woman with a strong character and extraordinary manipulating skills could have acquired such a position.

Social Ranks
Almost every source I have used stresses that the social position of an ancient Egyptian depended more on his/her social rank than on his/her gender. The economical and juridical differences between the classes were huge, (although not nearly as huge as, for example, in ancient Rome). This causes, of course, that upper-class women naturally have more priviledges than lower-class women or slaves. The status of a woman depended greatly also on the status of her husband. The wives were often the husbands’ closest advisors and could greatly influence their decisions and simultaneously even the future of the entire nation.
For a man it was possible to move from one class to another, and ideally this opportunity would’ve existed for a woman too. Usually, though, if a man moved upwards in classes he divorced his wife and got a new one from the class he was now in.

Conclusions & possible causes
The status of women in Egypt was unique compared to the other ancient cultures. The women practiced almost the same rights as men in theory. Practically, though, the men were the ones who represented families publicly and they were the ones to make decisions, practice religious ceremonies etc. Although women had the inscriptions of the law by their side, often the old customs and habits stuck, and the women almost never utilized all the rights belonging to them. The rights and status of a woman depended on if the woman was a part of the upper- , middle- or lower-class. 
One of the explanations for the higher-than-normal status of women is the pharaoh. The pharaoh was the incarnation on Egypt and all its’ gods. A persons value as a human being was therefore measured by the relationship s/he had with the king, not by gender.
Personally I believe the status of women was due to the fact that the men had enough sense to give the women the respect and honor they deserved. The benefits of such an attitude can easily be remarked, didn’t the Egyptian empire last for over 3000 years?