Galvin pointed out a marked decrease in the importance of women’s roles in the Hathor priesthood between the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom (1984), and Fischer has shown that this change was a more general phenomenon (2000: 45). One Old Kingdom woman was accorded the title of ‘‘overseer of (female) doctors,’’ implying that other female doctors existed to be overseen. In the tomb of Princess Watetkhethor of the early Sixth Dynasty, women were depicted who held the titles ‘‘steward’’ (literally ‘‘overseer of the house’’), ‘‘overseer of equipment,’’ ‘‘overseer of cloth,’’ and ‘‘overseer of ornaments.’’ Elsewhere, women had the titles ‘‘overseer of singers,’’ ‘‘overseer of a dance troupe,’’ and ‘‘overseer of the house of weavers’’ (Fischer 2000: 18-20). Interestingly, the feminine form of the title ‘‘overseer’’ itselfis only attested for the Old Kingdom and the early Middle Kingdom (Ward 1986: 3-4). These positions indicate supervision only of other women, and are usually attested in the households of other women. Similarly, female doctors probably also served only women. These titles may thus be the result of a degree of sexual segregation of upper class women rather than evidence for a high degree of professional specializations among women. Nonetheless, the fact that these women were depicted with their professional titles showed that public decorum allowed such women a greater degree of visibility than was possible in later periods.
Religious institutions also showed a decrease in professional female staff over time. The title ‘‘prophet’’ was attested for women primarily in the cults of goddesses in the Old and Middle Kingdom; women could hold a lower title, ‘‘wab-priest,’’ in the cults of male gods in the Middle Kingdom. Later, women serving in the cults of both gods and goddesses were limited to the musical roles that had always been the principal type of temple service for women.
The literacy of women has long been a question. There is no explicit evidence for female literacy in the Old Kingdom, although one would think it was probably necessary to perform such offices as steward. A female form of the title ‘‘scribe’’ is attested in the Middle Kingdom, though some have argued that it should be translated ‘‘cosmetician.’’ Women in the New Kingdom period were sometimes shown with scribal equipment, and a scribal palette bearing the name of a king's daughter was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. A clear example of a female scribe existed in the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (664-525 bce); she served in the household of the God’s Wife of Amun (Piacentini 2001: 193). Given the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty enthusiasm for reviving older forms, her role may have been inspired by the women who served as administrators in the households of Old Kingdom royal women.
World History
