Women's Rights in Egypt

My blog project throughout the semester was revolved around the rights of women in Egypt. I chose this topic because it was something that I could easily compare to myself, being a woman. I also chose this topic because it is something that many people are unaware of in the United States. I wanted to learn about the causes behind this gender stratification, how long it has been going on, and why certain countries have more rights for males over females. After completing all of my Diigo research, I came to the realization that not only Egyptian women get treated differently, but nearly every Middle Eastern nation’s women, and even the United States. Personally, I have never had a problem occur at this point in my life where I felt like I was less able to succeed or less of a human because I am a female, but I learned that it does occur to many women. Although the treatment of women in the United States is not nearly as significant as the degrading treatment of women in Egypt, there can be certain stigmas placed on females that are the same throughout the world. This does not matter if you are in Egypt, Turkey, or even the United States. Women tend to accumulate similar issues no matter where you go in the world and I found that very intriguing as the semester went on. Although I mainly focused on women’s rights in Egypt, I gained a lot of perspective and knowledge about what women of all nations are facing together. This was a very motivating and exciting topic to cover because a lot of the articles and videos that I posted about on my blog were written directly by those individuals involved. This really hit home to me because it put my in their position and in their shoes for what they have gone through and what challenges they faced, and eventually overcame. I was still lucky enough to find a few articles that interview women and female children who have gone through diversity in regards to gender degrading. What I noticed from a lot of women journalists who interviewed other victims of gender abuse was how passionate they were about the fight. Almost every female journalist or writer was writing the article because they are passionate about getting equality for women around the world. Many were going on to educate others about the issues, while others were going to government officials to create new legislation about women’s rights, particularly divorce. A great example of an ordinary Egyptian woman who has sparked other women to join the cause for equality is Rana Allam, who I mention in my blog post titled, “The Face of Egyptian Women.” She is one of many who continue to do their part in fighting for a cause they are passionate about. Rana Allam uses social media, most notably Twitter, to educate others as well as speak her mind about women’s rights. In that blog post, I also attached an article she wrote about how the Egyptian government is passing laws to change martial rights and equality rights for the better, but the actual laws are still not being enforced. This shows how equality rights for women are not only a national, governmental issue, but mainly a large social issue.  Throughout this final post, you will get a perspective on how women are treated and what exactly is being done to change for the better.

At the beginning of my blog, I began with some background information about how the role of Egyptian women has changed from the era of Cleopatra. Women used to actually have more rights than the men. Discrimination was not about sex or gender in ancient Egypt, but about money. If you were wealthy, which was something you were merely born into, and then you would be more likely to have more rights. Today in contrast, money is still a large issue, but poor men are still likely to have equal or more rights than wealthier women. When I speak of “rights” I am putting voting, marriage, sexuality, social, work, and economic opportunity under an umbrella. During the Cleopatra era, the Egyptian society would have been under a market liberalism perspective. Money and economic forces drove society to what it was. Today in Egypt, the government is under a more political realist perspective. There is strong state leadership, followed by military and economic forces driving the citizens. The strong state government, also including strong religious backgrounds, creates laws on marriage, divorce and so on.

As the weeks of writing my blog continued, I began to realize how unfair the marriage and divorce laws were. This is what I knew I wanted to focus on more towards the end of my blog.  From the March 23^rd post titled “The ‘right’ for Divorce,” I looked at comparing the prevalence of divorce and why divorce is such a common process throughout Egypt. After researching more about divorce in Egypt, I learned that divorce was a common process because many marriages are forced, pre-set by families, and also many occur at young ages. Although the divorce rates are rather high, divorce is not a simple or quick process. Divorce can take years to complete and go through after being filed. Men in Egypt have a larger say in why the divorce is occurring, while women have a tighter bind to marriage. For example, if a woman in Egypt files for divorce because she knows her husband is not being faithful, the courts still may need other evidence and reasoning behind the filing. Although circumstances are not all the same, there are also times where divorce is granted immediately. I am only focusing on the struggles for many, but not all women. Now, more reasons for divorce include the physical and mental abuse that many women go through. It is very common for women to be sexually abused by their husbands or other men, as well as degraded to feeling as if they are merely an object and not a human. The objectification of women is something that did not only come up once or twice throughout my blog, but was a point that many different women focused on in articles and videos that I posted

Lastly, I wanted to focus and was extremely interested in the social stigma that women get once they are divorced in Egypt. I then looked at the social stigma on women in the United States after they have gone through a divorce. In my final blog post titled, “The Social Stigma on Divorce,” I compared and contrasted the stigmas women in the United States receive compared to Egyptian women. I gained insight on how, although women can be treated differently in the United States, we have more of a social stigma. From the first article, the American said she gets the feeling of being “undesirable” or that the marriage did not last because she was not a good wife. She elaborated in her article about how women can be portrayed as “mean-spirited” or “bitchy” after a divorce. In America, if you go through a divorce, you still have equal opportunity to get a job, have a stable income and a more profitable life. In Egypt on the contrary, women who go through a divorce have a much more difficult time in finding jobs, educational opportunities, and even are linked to higher numbers of sexual assault. It was absolutely shocking to me how something that has absolutely nothing to do with these opportunities can have such a drastic affect on different parts of an Egyptian woman’s life. I enjoyed focusing and learning about these issues, especially when articles were written by feminists. They believe in the social, economical and political equality of women, which is something I can stand by. Also, with nearly all of my posts and the general idea of women’s equality, Egyptian women and other Arab nation women are taking more of a radicalism approach to these issues. They are focusing on revamping the social injustice and political injustice. I would say women are taking a radicalism approach to the issues because they are focusing on self-reliance, cultural forces and are doing whatever is necessary in order to achieve equality. I would also say that some women and women’s groups are taking a cosmopolitanism stance because they are using education and forming networks with other nations, women and non-governmental organizations in order to achieve their goal of equality.

Choosing this topic and being able to find out new information about it really broadened my perspectives on how the world really is today outside of the United States. I forgot how different and old-aged some nations still are to this day compared to our progressive era in the United States. Equality and social justice for women will continue to be a large issue in the world, but I am excited to see where positive and determined women will take it! I believe there is a lot of potential for women to change the world one step at a time to finally achieve the goal of equality between men and women. I will no longer take my opportunities as an American woman for granted because I know that there are many women in the world who will never get to have the opportunities that I have by being an American. I have gained a new found understanding of what it means to have rights and I hope that someday I will be able to help make a difference for women who do not have opportunities.

Divorce being such a common thing in today’s age, continues to have certain social stigmas brought along with it. In the United States, it is much different than the stigma in Egypt. According to the article, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/d-a-wolf/the-divorcee-stigma-it-st_b_4039529.html, the autor explains how women in the United States are stigmitized by others thinking they are divorced because they are “unattractive, undesirable in bed, mean-spirited to their former husbands” and so on. These are all ideas that may be true to some, but in the United States, being divorced is nothing compared to being divorced in Egypt. Women’s jobs are not affected by divorce in the United States, like they are in Egypt. Women do not have nearly as difficult of a time actually processing a divorce and going through with it here in the United States. In comparison, the article http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/06/12/on-the-social-stigma-of-divorce/, shows the emotional toll that divorce can have. Although divorce here in the United States as well as in Egypt can have an embarrassing factor to it, the Egyptian woman in the article had no support after the divorce went through. The worst part of it all was the application and hiring process of finding a job once divorced. It became much more difficult to find a job when she had to tell employers her marital status. Lastly, and even more importantly, Nadia said divorced women in Egypt become more succumb to sexual assault and harassment.

These two articles are similar in the way others “view” women after being divorced. Being divorced in Egyptian society as well as a lot of the middle east, is much more debilitating due to the fact that it becomes harder to make an actual living. This is something that we as Americans have equality laws for… or ones that are actually enforced.

Arranged marriage in Egypt is not only targeting those of legal age, but also to women much, much younger. I am talking about women married before the age of 15. In the article http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2015/03/22/i-dont-know-how-old-i-am-child-marriage-in-egypt/, a young girl who was married before the age of 17 stated that she did not know exactly how old she was because she was taken away at such a young age. In this article, it states that marriage younger than 16 is illegal, but it is religiously acceptable with Sunni Muslims. The YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqa9tt2eS5M, tells the glorifying story of a 10 year old girl, who managed to escape this arranged and illegal marriage one week before it being processed. Girls like Yemeni are the ones who know exactly what goes on and can help others in her position educate the world about the stripping of their rights as women. Child marriage threatens the lives and health of women, especially those who are not ready to have children of their own. These articles are related in the demonstrating the effects that can be made on girls, but still shows the fight they have to change their lives for the better.

In the first article, http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/profiles/2015/03/07/Egypt-minister-Ghada-Wali-wants-to-make-a-difference-for-Arab-women.html, Egyptian minister ,Ghada Wali, who works closly with the UN Development Program in Egypt, wants others (especailly politicians) to be more influenced by educated women and women’s policies in furthering education. Not only is Wali promoting her views to Egypt, but she is promoting her views on education and policy to all Arab states. She wants to help tackle violence against women by strengthening the government as well as public opinion on women. In the second article, http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/education-plus-development/posts/2015/03/06-international-womens-day-jalbout, the writer Maysa Jalbout uses statistical records to show how education of females early in life (along with males), helps with gender equality later on in life. She believes that education women can and will lead to healthier, happier women and their children. She also believes that empowering women in Arab states via education can play a large role in establishing peace and security in the violence-stricken states. These two articles are good examples of how Arab nations are trying to develop change and progress through women’s education rights.

The the first article, https://academic.aucegypt.edu/caravan/story/better-or-worse-why-divorce-difficult-egyptian-women, the idea of divorce is something that many men and women want to grasp. The issue is not actually divorce, but rather how simple it is for a man to divorce his wife, and how extremely difficult it is for a woman to divorce her  husband. According to the article posted above, a man just has to state that he wants a divorce, while the woman must see a psychologist, sociologist and other experts explaining why the divorce is necessary. By the time this all happens, divorce can take up to 5 years. Many women feel like a piece of property rather because they are not offered equal rights. With that thought, feeling like a piece of property does not just come down to marriage papes. In the next article, http://egyptianstreets.com/2015/03/23/exposing-the-secret-of-domestic-abuse-in-egypt/, physical and mental abuse ties down women just as much as marriage papers. According to the article, 47% of married women have been victims of physical abuse by their partner.  These two articles are not only cries for help for women in Egypt, but for women in the Middle East.

In the past week, the nation of Iran has drafted new laws that are outlawing voluntary sterilization for women, no longer allowing birth control and making it more difficult for women without children to get jobs. According to the article written by BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31828123), if these laws are passed, it would set women’s rights progressing back decades. In the second article written by the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/world/middleeast/as-egypt-birthrate-rises-population-policy-vanishes.html?_r=0), Egypt has seen a large increase in population. Population control used to be relatively regulated, but the Egyptian people have recently seen less government control on allowing women to use contraception.

The large population increases that are occuring in Egypt and could occur rapidly in Iran are major threats to the nations cities. With larger populations and weak economies, these countries are on the path to even poorer circumstances for their people.

There are many ways Egyptian women are trying to get their voice heard. Whether it be for the fight against sexual harassment, discrimination, or for more political freedom, women of all backgrounds are figuring out how to speak up. The first article, “Meem, An animation in the face of taboos, (http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2015/02/25/meem-animation-face-taboos) shows how one woman created an animated character who displayed an average girl and womans political and religious views. This quickly caught the attention of locals, who she then began publishing their views as well as her own. The second article, On women in Egypt: Equality doesn’t mean justice, (http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/02/24/women-egypt-equality-doesnt-mean-justice) the author describes her views on how there are meausures being taken to fight for the rights and equality of women, but that women are not actully being protected by all of it. You can follow the author, Rana Allam, on twitter @Run_Rana. I found a connection between these articles because it shows different ways women are speaking their mind. One through animations and local women, the other through literature and her own personal opinion.

The two articles that I am writing about this week are “Egyptian appeals court convicts doctor in female mutilation case,” and “Former Egyptian diplomat cites progress on women’s rights.” The first article shows how the Egyptian courts finally sentenced a doctor to two years in prison for the death of a young girl whom was surgically mutilated by him, further causing her death. They explain in the article how it is a stepping stone in convicting doctors for this brutality, but it is extremely upsetting because it continues to happen to nearly 90% of all Egyptian women. In my opinion, it is absurd to think that this doctor is only receiving 2 years in prison for the death of this young girl.The second article is about a former Egyptian diplomat, Moushira Khattab, who believes that women in Egypt are actually making progress towards gender equality. He predicts that women will shortly begin to compromise between 9-15% of parliament. Although these two articles are not technically related, I found a similarity in how those writing perceive what is going on in Egypt.  They are optimistic about the way things are going, but in my opinion, allowing a doctor to only get 2 years in prison is not something to celebrate. I know steps must be taken and it cannot all be fixed at once, but I still cannot wrap my head around how things like this still occur in the world today.

The two articles I am writing about this week are about the youth in Egypt and the forced child brides of Egypt. The United Nations Development Programme in Egypt hosted a camp called the “Violence Against Women Youth Innovation Camp.” The goal was to effectively come up with solutions and approachable goals that young citizens in Egypt can promote to other civilians by informing others of the treatment of women in Egypt. The other article I am writing about this week is the story behind child brides in Egypt. This article demonstrates the reasoning behind the causes and effects of this serious issue. Many of the consequences of this goes back to the impoverished and corrupt nation. I thought these were great articles to read together because it shows that the youth are noticing things that they do not want to continue happening. Although child marriages are still a huge, difficult issue to solve, it is nice seeing that fellow peers are trying to solve the problem one step at a time.

This week, I am focusing on the differences between eras of women’s rights in Egypt. Where better off to start that looking at where it all began: ancient Egypt. Back in the Cleopatra era, women were not completed segregated from men. Actually, they had many, if not all of the same rights as men. Today in contrast, women in Egypt have the least amount of rights of all time. These range from political, civil, workplace discrimination, just to name a few. In ancient Egypt, women were still discriminated against, but as were men. Those discriminated against, leading to fewer rights and privileges were the poor, which is actually rather true with today as well. The main difference in today compared to ancient times is that poor, impoverished men in Egypt are still granted more rights, and are subject to less harassment than the women. Although rights should be extremely important to anyone, the violence, especially sexual violence against women in Egypt, is strikingly high. According to the article by BBC News, 99.3% of women and girls in Egypt have been victims to some amount of sexual harassment. This shocking statistic is a great reference point on how women’s issues have increased in Egypt. To read the full article from BBC, here is the link : http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24908109