how are women treated in egypthow are women treated in egypt

Egyptian women who were married were highly acknowledged. It was common for married couples to continue to reproduce until bearing at least two sons. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. For example, women who have to use the public transportation have to use hairpins to keep harassers away. Egyptian women are cheerful and hilarious. Aside from its wealth of ancient ruins, historic monuments, vast desert and coral reefs, one of the main joys of an Egypt trip are the people themselves. USAID also supports GOE institutions, micro, small and medium enterprises, and promotes information and communication technology to empower women. Contact: info@gatestoneinstitute.org "[36] On 4 June 2013, a law criminalizing sexual harassment for the first time in modern Egyptian history was approved by then interim president, Adly Mansour. Scholarship programs expand access to high-quality education for youth with high financial need, and intergenerational literacy programming in rural areas supports girls and their mothers to learn to read. USAID also works with private sector partners, such as private pharmacists and apparel manufacturers, to provide training on family planning services and peer mentoring for factory workers. [20] In June 2013, 13-year-old Soheir al-Batea died after undergoing FGM. It goes much deeper. Egypt's New Constitution: As Bad as its Old One? In 1985 Egyptian authorities ruled that the amendments of 1979 were unconstitutional because they had been enacted through a presidential decree while the People's Assembly was not in session. Among all females surveyed in a 2011 study of over 15,000 individuals, 75.5% of women aged 1029 report being circumcised. Egypt: Crackdown stokes women's solidarity - DW - 01/21/2022 Attitudes regarding sexual violence against women provide considerable obstacles in regard to mobilizing public action against it. Over the past 7 years, USAID provided 519 university scholarships to young women studying science, technology, engineering, and math. Either through political and/or religious power, some women managed to become, de facto or de jure, the highest office holders in the kingdom, and share a status of co-rulers with men, even being depicted in monuments with the same height as their husbands or otherwise and even as the other Gods of Egypt. If you go to any government office you will find that the majority of employees are women. At the same time, the state repressed independent feminist organizations, leaving a dearth of female political representation. "We are almost not living. The ancient Egyptians created a sophisticated civilization, particularly regarding the status of women. Nevertheless, during those ancient times, men and women were essentially equal and there was nearly no hierarchy in terms of gender roles. Meanwhile, for men, the labor force participation rate was 70.86%. On women's rights, ancient Egyptian society was considerably more liberal and progressive than Athens and Rome. The struggle for women's rights in Egypt - The Jerusalem Post Between 1976 and 2008, contraceptive use rose from 18 to 60 percentdropping the average number of children per woman from 5.6 to 3. [19] In 2012, UNICEF reported that 87% of Egyptian women and girls 1549 years old had undergone female genital mutilation. Circa the 1890s, twice the percentage of women in Alexandria knew how to read compared to the same percentage in Cairo. [16][17], Despite long standing advocation for women's labor rights, that is not the case in 21st century Egypt. Nefertiti was known to be an active Egyptian woman in society, as well as her children. He said, "There is no freedom and no democracy [for Muslims] -- the most dishonest and unjust people are Western people and the English in particular.". From the archaeological evidence of the art on the ancient temples, at least in the realm of law, it appears Egyptian women had achieved equality with men. Because she possesses the weapon of enticement [igraa].". As a result, women typically do house chores like cooking, cleaning and caring for the children. Some women, when negotiating with their husbands for divorce, are willing to forfeit the financial assistance in exchange for him initiating the divorce. Women participated in the political, economic, and judicial world of ancient Egypt on the same terms as men This social system reflects Egyptian mythology, where Goddesses played an equal, if not chief, role. In January, the Egyptian cabinet approved a personal status bill that would require women to get the consent of a male guardian to get married, to register a child's birth or to travel abroad . In 2022, USAID launched a new $39 million Womens Economic and Social Empowerment Program to increase womens access to economic opportunities in Egypt and remove barriers to womens participation in the economy. [52] In 2016, they tightened the law and made it a felony. The inequality Egyptian women faced during those times are no different from the inequality issues they face today. A 2011 Population Fund survey found that 75% of married women aged 1529 have used contraception. Last week, things came to a head when a new draft of the Egyptian constitution was approved by a 50-member committee appointed by Egypt's Interim president, Adly Mansour. The Global Economy in 2019 reported that the labor force participation rate for females in Egypt was 21.93%. In its World Report 2020, the Human Rights Watch reported that virginity tests still occurred in the country. The Status of Women in Ancient Egyptian Society. Other Jobs. Only a few women are known to have important positions in administration, though there were female rulers . Hawwa 15, no. Piccione, Peter A. The answer seems to lie with Islam's Sharia Law and how it is interpreted by the clerics at Egypt's -- and Sunni Islam's -- foremost religious establishment, Al-Azhar University in Cairo, and by other hardline fundamentalist groups in the country. Remarriage was common, and most divorced men and women expected to wed again. According to The World Banks report in 2017, the literacy rate for females was 65.5%, while it was 43.6% in 1996. Both reserve the right not to publish replies to articles should they so choose. Decades of sustained USAID support to education for girls has helped lift girls enrollment in primary school from just over 50 percent in 1978 to 100 percent by 2009. Politically, they often managed to become Interregnum queens. He left the room. Women's roles were defined by this . The divorced wife automatically retained custody of sons under the age of ten and daughters under twelve; courts could extend the mother's custody of minors until their eighteenth birthdays. From 2019 - 2021, the USAID-supported Dawwie initiative, which promotes girls empowerment, reached 42 million people and trained more than 35,000 youth on digital skills. Preserved parliamentary seats for women and the 1979 personal status law were repealed in 1987, a new watered-down law taking its place that allowed less power for women in cases of divorce. There were a total of no less than 169 cases of such attacks against women during that week. In addition, women are to be given access to higher judiciary positions for the first time. Cleopatra was known to have ruled with Marc Antony around 31 BC and she was also the Co-regent of her two husband-brothers and her son. Such attitudes toward women and prevalence of sexual violence and harassment against them, contribute substantially to Egypt being named the worst Arab state for women by an extensive Thomas Reuters Foundation study. USAID helped establish the Women Entrepreneurs Network and Tiye Angels, the first womens angel investor network in Egypt, to provide financial and non-financial services to women. All rights reserved. To limit women's contact with men as tradition, practices such as veiling and gender segregation at schools, work, and recreation have become common. N.p., n.d. Additionally, they now have a more equal opportunity in life at a younger age. The police and the local hospital initially refused to get involved in the case. Abdel-Maboud also objected to Article 11 of the proposed constitution, which addresses the equality between men and women and states that those women's rights are defined in Sharia's laws. These roles are largely associated with traditional Islamic family structures, wherein women's roles are closely tied to the domestic sphere and men's roles tied to the public sphere (see: Women in Egypt).Gender roles are based on assumed biological differences between the sexes and can lead to dramatically different life . Of the 100 members of the assembly, only 7 were women. 3 (2017): 225256. The women revealed that they were sexually abused in police stations, hospitals and prisons during routine searches by the police or prison guards and by state-employed doctors during invasive physical exams and virginity tests. The role as a wife included taking care of the household. Ideas about women disseminated by Al-Azhar have made their way to the West where they have been embraced by both men and women. Women in Ancient Egypt - My CMS Ancient Egypt's eight female pharaohs and a number of influential queens led the country as it achieved astonishing feats in a wide range of fields that include engineering, fashion and astronomy. Longer submissions are unlikely to be published. An Egyptian woman was thought to be at the peak of her power when her sons had married because she automatically acquired the control over the newly growing families of her sons. In Egypt, legal adulthood starts at 18. Women were guaranteed the right to vote and equality of opportunity was explicitly stated in the 1956 Egyptian constitution, forbidding gender-based discrimination. The Egyptian pantheon included many, many female deities, each with a different area of expertise. Unfortunately, since the rest of the world's "leaders" are scared of them, we must watch this senseless destruction of all that is good until it finally becomes the war they are begging for. A family with well-grown sons was considered to have decent security. [42] However, Sisi's recent ratification is dismissed in a 2022 court case against famous Egyptian actor Shady Khalaf, who was charged with only 3 years of prison sentencing for his sexual assault and attempted rapes on "seven women at an acting workshop. During this period, USAID also helped over 5,400 young women access jobs following graduation from technical and vocational schools. Rulers and Leaders. [27], According to Global Gender Gap Index, Egypt ranked 134th out of the 153 countries in 2020. In Egypt, legal adulthood starts at 18. [5], . He said women were "weapons" used by "Satan" to control men. Traditional gender roles in Egypt are prevalent and clearly defined. Citing high rates of sexual harassment and female genital mutilation, a new survey finds that women in Egypt face the worst treatment in the Arab world. Egypt is a signatory to The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. As a result, hundreds of women have been victims of random sexual violence in public. In February 2014, Egypt elected its first female political party leader; Hala Shukrallah, a Coptic Christian, was elected to represent the Constitution Party. Also, USAID has supported Women Complaints Office-affiliated volunteer lawyers to provide free legal assistance, with almost 5,000 court cases filed. Egyptians are some of the most hospitable and garrulous people in the world. Barrenness was considered a severe misfortune for Egyptian women, as well as the inability to produce male offspring. In the Sixth Dynasty Nebet became a Vizier and thus the first woman in History to fulfill such an office. Among many other countries that face disparities, Egypt functions off of gender-based rules because of the traditional society. The Statues of Women in Egyptian Society. I could only guess what happened to my mother until I saw "Cairo 678," an Egyptian movie based on real stories. [21], Between 1992 and 2000 Egypt made tremendous gains in reducing maternal mortality rates a drop of 52% (174/100,000 to 84/100,000). [14], Participation in the labor force shows substantial differences between the genders. Unemployment for women changed from 5.8% 1960 to 40.7% in 1986. [22] The case involved Samira Ibrahim who participated at a sit-in at Tahrir Square on March 9, 2011. Promoting Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment | Egypt | U.S. Agency Inequality within education systems in Egypt has decreased substantially. As children, females were raised to be solely dependent upon their fathers and older brothers. Haneen Hossam spent ten months in prison for violating "the Egyptian Family rules" by dancing on TikTok. This information needs to be disseminated for all to see. Islam may wreck a high number of nations, but it will also destroy itself. A husband retained the right to divorce his wife without recourse to the courts, but he was required to file for his divorce before witnesses at a registrar's office and officially and immediately to inform his wife. Women are often discouraged from seeking justice, both by officials, who want to protect Egypt's reputation and by their own relatives, who want to protect their family's honor. Only, working-age women are participating in the economy, compared to. Consequently, when looking at a number of indicators, women often find themselves disadvantaged relative to men. Women have traditionally been preoccupied with household tasks and child rearing and have rarely had opportunities for contact with men outside the family. The study found sexual harassment, high rates of female genital mutilation and a. Country Fact Sheet | UN Women Data Hub These rates decreased in higher income and education brackets, although approximately one quarter of women in those highest brackets report having been "beaten" by their husbands at some point during their marriage. These reforms included the following specifics regarding legitimate grounds for a woman requesting a divorce: In 1971 further reforms were made. After Al-Hilali was forced to resign his post as the Grand Mufti, he went back to Egypt and condemned his former host country, Australia. In 2021, USAID provided food assistance to 40,000 vulnerable pregnant and nursing women and children, and connected 500 mothers who are under the social safety net system with micro-loans and business training so they can support themselves and their families. If her husband was found to have a dangerous or contagious disease. Women who had only bore females were given derogatory names, such as "mothers of brides". Their lack of true accountability proves only that they have never left their boyhood, because they cannot discipline themselves and refuse to try! Innovative USAID programs, including establishing nontraditional schools and providing scholarships to more than 185,000 girls, helped change community attitudes and made primary education virtually universal. However, legal inequality persists as current laws "establish significant differences between women and men, in terms of both marriage and divorce rights."[5]. Most women in Egypt have adopted some form of veiling,[25] with a majority of Egyptian women covering at least their hair with the hijab; however covering the face with a niqb is only practiced by a minority of women (see Niqb in Egypt). [39], Egypt, along with a significant number of countries, ratified the convention, spelling out numerous reservations. Egyptian Women: What Makes Them Perfect for Marriage? - WomenExpert That goes for women with or without education because jobs can be attained at various levels, but the preference goes to their male counterparts. Refworld | Egypt: Treatment of women who do not conform to Muslim Anwar Mhajne. According to The 2020 Global Gender Gap Index, which ranks countries based on the severity of inequality in the world, Egypt ranks 134 out of 153 countries. "Sexual Harassment in Egypt." Sounds dramatic, I know, but I'm just being honest. Egypt will not comply to any part of the Convention that runs counter to, This page was last edited on 6 April 2023, at 17:16. Dunham, D. 1917. Instead of protecting women from the violence of . Women owned businesses selling products such as cosmetics, perfume, or clothing. The highest divorce rates were among the urban lower class, the lowest rates among the villagers of Upper Egypt. Its main purpose is to preserve chastity, though its social function is very complicated. e. Women in ancient Egypt had some special rights other women did not have in other comparable societies. The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), Russia, Wagner, and the Future of Counterterrorism in Africa, From Satanism to Genocide: Moral Panic and White Supremacy in South Africa. Married Egyptian women were expected by their husband's families to bear children, but particularly males. The current draft includes Article Two of the old constitution which states that "Islam is the state religion, Arabic is its official language and the principles of Islamic Sharia law form the main source of legislation.". Since 2017, USAID provided leadership training to 14,000 rural Egyptian women to participate in community education and assume leadership roles. Prior to our trip, we spent hours reading books, guides, blogs and watching videos in preparation for Egypt. (. [9] This has provided the legal framework for greater gender equality, though enforcement will determine its effectiveness. In the minds of Egypt's theocrats, a woman's body should not be seen in public. However, even highly educated Egyptian women still struggle to find employment due to how expensive childcare is and the likelihood of sexual harassment in and outside the working environment. Type above and press Enter to search. Women's involvement in politics is now a Western idea; it has no place in Muslim Egypt. [31][32][33] In 2013, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women reported that 99.3% of Egyptian women had experienced some form of harassment. El-Ashmawy, Nadeen. Could this kind of grassroots movement gain enough power to change the. Women Fare Worse In Egypt Than In Any Arab State: Survey Although womens rights in Egypt continue to face hardships, the nongovernmental organization Egyptian Society of Womens Health (ESWH) is working hard at helping women. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. published on 26 November 2018. Islamists keep repeating that Sharia laws have all the solutions to the world's problems. The most disadvantaged group are rural adult women. 37th and O Streets Building on decades of investments in voluntary family planning and maternal health, USAID supports Egypts National Family Planning Program to improve the quality of voluntary family planning services and strengthen decision-making and policy formation at the national level. [33], The 2009 UNFPA Violence Against Women Summary Finding confirmed that spousal violence is a significant problem in Egypt. Sheikh Taj Din Al-Hilali, Grand Mufti, Australia, 2006. If you do not communicate even one day she will miss you very much. In an interview with Amr Adeeb in Al Qahera-Al Youm (Cairo Today), Al-Hilali confirmed his views about women, but denied that he vandalized his own mosque. Please limit comments to 300 words or less. They are the offenders and are offensive to human beings they consider lesser than themselves. Moheeb told the BBC what happened: "All of a sudden I found myself inside a very, very huge circle of men who were attacking every inch of my body," she says in a voice that is soft but unflinching. [8] In case of Muslim family law, when someone passes away, two-thirds of their estate is distributed according to compulsory inheritance rules, wherein Muslim women receive half the inheritance of what their brothers get. Promoting Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, When women and girls have equal rights and access to resources and services, societies thrive. [15], A study by Ghada Barsoum suggests that there is a difference in reasons to pursue employment between unmarried and married women. Naga-ed-Der Stelae of the First Intermediate Period. In 2000, the law was amended by "The Law on Reorganization of Certain Terms and Procedures of Litigation in Personal Status Matters", a hotly contested legal act that broadened women's access to divorce. 07 Sept. 2016. However, as far as employment, this was not the case. Her tears kept coming, but she never answered any questions. Egyptian Streets called the attention a #MeToo moment.