Women in ancient Egypt had similar legal and economic rights to men. They could own land, sign contracts and inherit property. But although some women worked outside the home, most people saw a woman’s job as being wife and mother. Much of what we know about women comes from letters and documents, mostly written by men. Few women were educated, and so the records of women in ancient Egypt are limited.

Men were taught to respect their mothers, as the person who had given birth to them and fed and cared for them throughout their childhood. So they might include her (but rarely their father) in a family group statue, or dedicate a statue to her, as this fragment from a statue shows. The inscription reads ‘the King’s Mother, his beloved Mut-Tuy’.