The Pharaoh was a Woman

Hatshepsut as Pharaoh
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bubble_Boy_(Seinfeld) - Cached  

Egyptian women have had a central role in the recent protests.  Because in many families it is the men who work outside of the home, it has been the women who have had the time to keep the protests going.
On the surface this female activism would seem unprecedented, but a look at Egyptian history will show that these women have a spiritual ancestor in Hatshepsut, the 18th Dynasty queen turned Pharaoh.

Hatshepsut (1503-1482 BC) was the daughter of tuthmose I and Queen Ahmose Nefertari.  She married her brother (this was the custom among Egyptian rulers) Tuthmose II and had a daughter named Neferuri.
Tuthmose III, the son of Tuthmose II by another woman (it gets complicated) was married to Neferuri.
Tuthmose III was young when his father died and Hatshepsut became regent.

Hatshepsut had herself declared Pharaoh and devised a mythology about herself, involving a scenario in which the god Amun Ra took on the appearance of her biological father to mate with her mother to support herself in this role. She portrayed herself as a male in carvings, dressed in the traditional dress of male rulers.  She initiated many building projects.

After her death, Thutmose III ordered her name and image to be taken out of public display.  He was successful in erasing her memory and it wasn't until the 1060's that her existence was known about. Her mummy was positively identified in 2007.

Hatshepsut's Tomb