Women's Access to Political Power in Ancient Egypt and Igboland: A Critical Study

Abstract

This is an Afrocentric examination of women's use of agency in Ancient Egypt and Igboland. Most histories written on Kemetic women not only disconnect them from Africa but also fail to fully address the significance of their position within the political spiritual structure of the state. Additionally, the presence of matriarchy in Ancient Egypt is dismissed on the basis that patriarchy is the most visible and seemingly the most dominant form of governance. Diop contended that matriarchy was one of the key factors that connected Ancient Egypt with other parts of Africa which is best understood as the Africa cultural continuity theory. My research analyzes the validity of his theory by comparing how Kemetic women exercised agency in their political structure to how Igbo women exercised political agency. I identified Igbo women as a cultural group to be compared to Kemet because of their historical political resistance in their state during the colonial period. However, it is their traditional roles prior to British invasion that is most relevant to my study. I define matriarchy as the central role of the mother in the social and political function of societal structures, the political positions occupied by women that inform the decisions of the state and the inclusion of female principles within the religious-political order of the nation. Matriarchy as a critical framework was used to identify how Kemetic women and Igbo women accessed political power by means of motherhood, political leadership, and spiritual authority. The findings of this study show that Igbo women and Ancient Egyptian women were integral to the political operation of their states. Furthermore, the results indicate that Ancient Egypt and Igboland shared cultural commonalities as it relates to the roles that women occupied as spiritual specialists, political leaders and mothers.