Women Rights Developments in Egypt Within The Past 20 Years
By: Wesam Shahed
Throughout the past twenty years, Egypt has slowly but surely made improvements toward gender equality. In 2018, Egypt was ranked 135 out of 149 countries in WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report. [1] While Egypt’s workforce is vastly occupied by men, its education system is improving for women.[2] For instance, both women and men are now able to attend schools in equal numbers.[3] Egyptian universities have women graduating at a rate faster than males.[4] Unlike two decades ago when women were marrying young and encouraged not to go to school, women are now marrying later in their lives and having fewer children.[5]
While these gains in the educational sector are improvements towards gender equality, there is still much to be improved because these gains have not encouraged women to join the workforce after graduation. For example, for every female Egyptian worker, about four stay in the household.[6] The percentage of women in the labor force has remained fixed for two decades, and the rate for women with college degrees entering the workforce has decreased.[7] While there are nine women for every ten men in university and the gender gap is narrowing, the percentage of unemployment after graduation among women remains much higher than men.[8] Approximately 10% of women are employed in the private-sector, while the other 90% of private sector employment is that of men.[9]
While gender equality has been shifting in the education and employment sectors of Egypt, its laws have been changing the past two decades as well. Egypt is a predominantly Muslim society where Islamic law is the main source of legislation.[10] In this country, the government follows Sharia law, which entails that a daughter would get half the inheritance than her brother (If she has one).[11] Following a yearlong legal battle that a Christian woman launched after her father’s death and two previous rulings against her, a Cairo court ruled she may inherit the same share as her brothers based on Christian laws.[12]
Additionally, Sharia law is considered to be binding authority over familial matters such a divorce, child custody, alimony, and the process of getting married.[13] Since the early 2000s, many reforms in Egyptian laws have improved women’s situations regarding these types of familial issues. Where women were once supposed to have the permission of their husbands to divorce them, now the reexamination of the Islamic word ‘khula,’ which required a husband’s permission to divorce, no longer requires spousal consent.[14] Furthermore, Egypt has recent laws that govern the standard marriage contract, which now gives women the right to specify conditions to marriage, such as the right to divorce if her husband decides on to marry another woman.[15] In 2005, Egypt’s government created a family court system, “the creation of a Family Fund for court-ordered alimony and maintenance for female disputants, and new child custody laws.”[16]
There has also been development in terms of property, immigration, and litigation laws. First, women can “own, inherit, and independently use land and property.”[17] Second, in 2005, Egypt also established the right for women to apply for a passport and travel without their husband’s consent.[18] Third, women have the right to litigate and act as a witness on an equal basis without differentiation, discrimination, or preferential treatment. Women have the right of recourse to the law in all its forms and at all levels.
Regarding criminal law, specifically sexual assault, Egypt’s’ Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation has a ruling that “there is no need to prove that the offender had complete sexual intercourse with the victim against the victim’s will. It is sufficient for the offender to touch the victim with their hands, reproductive organs, or device against the victim’s will.”[19]
Concerning Egyptian politics, as of 2015, women now have the highest representation in the Egyptian parliament in its history.[20] In the 2015 election, women won seventy-seven of the 568 seats up for election, and fourteen women by the Egyptian President.[21] Immigration always being a hot issue, in 2004 the Egyptian government passed a law that allows a child of an Egyptian mother and a foreign father to have Egyptian citizenship.[22] Additionally, Egyptian laws now “allow children to take their mother’s name, if their father is not proven.”[23]
Overall, women in Egypt, by all means, are not close to perfect gender equality, but improvements are being made slowly, but surely. With female rights advocates like the Egyptian First Lady Entissar al Sisi helping women in Egypt obtain and improve gender equal rights, hopefully, women in Egypt will be placed holistically in a better position in the future than they were in the past.[24]
#Blogpost #Egypt #GenderEquality #Women #Reform #WesamShahed
[1] Enterprise The State of The Nation, Egypt ranks 135 out of 149 countries in WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report, (Dec. 24, 2018), https://enterprise.press/stories/2018/12/24/egypt-ranks-135-out-of-149-countries-in-wefs-global-gender-gap-report/.
[2] Id.
[3] Leslie T. Chang, Egyptian Women and the Fight for the Right to Work, The New Yorker (Nov. 15, 2018), https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/egyptian-women-and-the-fight-for-the-right-to-work.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Jiahd Abaza, Women dominate the face of unemployment in Egypt: researchers, Daily News Egypt (Nov. 21, 2016), https://wwww.dailynewssegypt.com/2016/11/21/women-dominate-face-unemployment-egypt-woman-researchers/.
[9] Id.
[10] Associated Press, Egypt Court Sides With Woman Against Unequal Inheritance Law, US News (Nov. 26, 2019), https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-11-26/egypt-court-sides-with-woman-against-unequal-inheritance-law.
[11] “As regards your children’s (inheritance): to the male a portion of that of two females.” (Surah al-Nisa, V: 11)
[12] Egyptian woman 'wins court battle' over unequal inheritance laws, BBC News (Nov. 25, 2019), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50544239 "The law assumes that if the [Christian] inheritance beneficiaries agree on applying the Christian laws, the [inheritance] is divided equally. If they disagree, Islamic Sharia is applied." In this case, because she was a Christian, the court reasoned that she was forced to be held under Sharia law.
[13] Camilo Gomez-Rivas, Women, Shari‘a, and Personal Status Law Reform in Egypt after the Revolution, Middle East Institute (Oct. 1, 2011), https://www.mei.edu/publications/women-sharia-and-personal-status-law-reform-egypt-after-revolution.
[14] Adham Roshdy, Khula: the last resort?, Daily News Egypt (Oct. 10, 2012), https://wwww.dailynewssegypt.com/2012/10/10/khula-the-last-resort/.
[15] Camilo Gomez-Rivas, Women, Shari‘a, and Personal Status Law Reform in Egypt after the Revolution, Middle East Institute (Oct. 1, 2011), https://www.mei.edu/publications/women-sharia-and-personal-status-law-reform-egypt-after-revolution.
[16] Id.
[17] UNHCR, Women's Rights in the Middle East and North Africa - Egypt, Refworld, https://www.refworld.org/docid/47387b6a46.html.
[18] Lolwa Reda, Egyptian laws protecting women, Egypt Today (Dec. 21, 2018), https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/2/62310/Egyptian-laws-protecting-women.
[19] Id.
[20] Hend El-Behary, Women’s representation in new parliament highest in Egypt’s history, Egypt Independent (Jan. 5, 2016), https://ww.egyptindependent.com/women-s-representation-new-parliament-highest-egypt-s-history/.
[21] Id.
[22] Katherine Franke, Egyptian Women and Palestinian Men Can Now Confer Egyptian Citizenship on Their Children, Huffington Post (May. 17, 2011), https://www.huffpost.com/entry/egyptian-women-can-confer-citizenship_b_862979.
[23] Lolwa Reda, Egyptian laws protecting women, Egypt Today (Dec. 21, 2018), https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/2/62310/Egyptian-laws-protecting-women.
[24] Al-Masry Al-Youm, President Sisi makes 7 directives to the government on women’s issues, Egypt Independent (Mar. 30, 2019), https://egyptindependent.com/president-sisi-makes-7-directives-to-the-government-on-womens-issues/.