There's a lot of misunderstanding of ancient Egyptian culture due to the biases of early Egyptologists. I wouldn't call Egypt a matriarchy by any stretch, but women were in no way seen as property. They could own property in their own right, institute litigation, bear witness in court and travel freely unescorted. We have plenty of court proceedings and legal documents on all of this.
Furthermore there was no legal or formal concept of marriage in an official sense. Two people were married when they moved in and lived together and declared it, and divorced when one of them left and they divided their property. As a result, women could unilaterally divorce their husband. The state had no role in it.
Like other ancient Greeks, Herodotus was scandalised: "They Egyptians, in their manners and customs, seem to have reversed the ordinary practices of mankind. For instance, women attend market and are employed in trade, while men stay at home and do the weaving."
On the other hand, the grave robbers in later eras may not have belonged to that culture, but might still have been superstitious about ancient Egyptian curses. I don't believe the theory, but it's difficult to disprove.
Undowned for the edit, very gracious of you.