Gender Equality in Egypt: What You Need to Know

Introduction 

Women played vital roles in the Egyptian revolution that overthrew the government of Hosni Mubarak. The Arab spring was a series of protests and demonstrations by the civilians against the authoritarian regime of the president of Egypt. At this time, women’s participation in politics was expanding considerably compared to the previous periods. They were participating in the anti-government demonstrations and protection of their rights. The Egyptian women had a history of being active members of trade unions, organizations, and online communities. They played a crucial role in changing the views of many, and they contributed significantly in the revolutionists during the Arab Spring . Women played a key role in starting the protests that overthrew of the regime. Social media promoted the participation of women in the protests. The women used Facebook to mobilize supporters as well as organizing their events as asserted by Newsom and Lengel (2012 ). YouTube was used to post videos and photos to give the visual message to the world the events that were taking place. Twitter was used as a platform for newsfeed to the activists. Social media provided the information without being filtered by the state-run media ( Johansson-Nogués, 2013 ). It promoted the coordination between the protesters and the people and provided quick ways to pass messages. Despite the females’ important role in politics and their ability to do well, there is still a question of whether they have equal rights as the Egyptian males do. 

Furthermore, in 1960 the Egyptian president Nasser tried to reform a law in order to give women more rights. However, he was opposed by some Muslim clergy due to the timing of the 6 day war. The next president, Mubarak was indeed able to accomplish some reforms such as new divorce and custody laws for females that affords them more rights. Increasingly more equality has been attempted to be given to the Egyptian females by giving them seats in the government and more education opportunities. However, these movements were opposed by extremists in the society according to Johansson-Nogués (2013 ), the fight for gender equality did not start after the Arab springs, but it did become more evident. 

Methodology 

Research design 

The study method incorporates techniques such as questionnaires and interviews in Cairo, Egypt. The goal is to get information on the role of women in Egypt and to inquire whether gender equality exists in the country. 

Study sample and sampling techniques 

The study was conducted in Cairo town. A group of people was selected randomly and given questionnaires to fill. A total of 200 people were given questionnaires fill. Out of the people chosen randomly, 90 were men, and 110 were women. 

Data collection methods 

The data was collected using questionnaires. Each person selected was given questionnaires to fill. Questionnaires method was preferred because it provided the respondents with an opportunity to present their view without any undue influence. Each respondent was provided with thirty minutes to answer the questionnaires to save time. 

Major Research questions 

The following questions were included in the questionnaires. 

1. How many women live in Egypt? 

2. How many of them work? 

3. What is their religion? 

4. How do they dress? 

5. What do you about women in ancient Egypt? 

6. Do you know the history of women’s rights movement in in Egypt? 

7. Describe the culture of the women in Egypt 

8. Is the treatment of women and men equal in the society? 

9. How about women in government and Egyptian feminism? 

10. Do you believe any gender gaps exist between men and women? 

Limitations of the study 

This research was subjected to some risks which had to be considered before making conclusions were made. The main limitation was the accuracy of the answers received because some of the respondents were illiterate. Chances that some will not understand the questions and give a wrong answer were very high. 

Problem statement 

Despite the role that women played in the Egyptian revolutionists, their achievement was not known. Women discrimination in Egypt continued even after they actively participated in overthrowing the government. They put in a lot of efforts with the aim of finding their position in the society and getting treated like the male ones. While several kinds of literature exist on the participation of women in the Egyptian revolution, very little has been written concerning the role of women in Egypt after the Egyptian revolution and the existence of gender gaps. The study therefore aims at determining the position of women in Egypt and whether gender gaps still exist after the revolution took place. In fact, after the Arab spring in Egypt in 2011, women still protested and marched in order to earn more women’s rights (Nogues, 2013, 8). This signifies that perhaps the women were not satisfied with their current situation, rights, and gender roles. However, it is worthy to note that what I may define as an inequality may be subjective. This is a difficult topic to address since I do not live in Egypt and was not subjected to the same cultural norms that are present. 

Conceptual framework 

The conceptual framework of this study was to identify the role of women in Egypt and understand the gender gaps that may exist between men and women in the Egyptian society. The research focuses on identifying how women are treated in Egypt, their culture, dress, occupation and whether they are given equal treatment as men. This will be accomplished by giving a critical analysis of several research articles to analyze the major research questions mentioned above. 

Literature review 

The role played by women in politics and fighting for change merely reflects based on the secondary place in which they are assigned by customs and culture in the society ( Hafez, S. 2014) . Some scholars argue that the real change will only be realized if the community decides to completely change its norms about the role of women and deeply destroy the belief that women are inferior. Over 50 years ago, Ronald and Pippa found that there exists a considerable gender gap in all the societies in political participation, with women being inactively involved in the traditional form of activism. Women were hardly included in any political interests, union membership, demonstrations or any other kind of protest or boycott ( Abu-Lughod & El-Mahdi, 2011) . The argument was that the gap was due to specific factors which were classified as structural, cultural and agency. The structural causes were issues related to age or educational status. Cultural reasons were concerns about the attitude and the social values that women were assigned. However, in the closer examination of activism in specific, they discovered that gender gap in the post-industrialized societies was closed when the social differences such as education were controlled ( Al-Ali, 2012). Ronald and Pippa argued that gender gap in politics decreased in activism, and that creating a modern society which allows secularization and rise of young generations can help close the gender gap in political participation. Scholars such as Ruth Santini doubted the situation of women rights in the post-Arab spring nations. She believes that cultural and religious factors had more to do with the marginalization of women and their participation in the protests would merely change their role. 

Analysis of findings 

From the entire research, some critical results relating to gender gap and the role of women in the society were discovered. First, 65% of the respondents said that they believe gender gap still exists between men and women. Out of the 65% who think gender gap exists, 90% of them were female. In another finding, 55% of the respondents said that the treatment of men and women in the society are not equal. The pie chart below represents the response rate. 

Figure 1 

From the pie chart above, only 30% of the respondents believe there are no gender gaps. 65% believe that gender gaps exist while 5% never responded. 

Discussion and summary 

Egypt has an estimated population of 89 million people, with women population estimated to be 43 million, representing 48% of the total population. The population growth rate in Egypt is very rapid with the women growth being estimated to be 20% in 5 years. The percentage of literacy in women stands at 65% compared to 88% for men. Despite the women in Egypt struggling to get gender equality, the men are still given superiority. In the job market, the population of the women who are working is half that of men who are working. However, this does not necessarily equate to inequality if females are given equal opportunities for employment but choose to turn them down. The majority of women in Egypt are Muslims. The marriage is done under the Islamic law. In the marriage, a man is allowed to have up to four wives, but a woman could only have one husband. It is another discriminatory nature women are subjected to by the men. A man was free to divorce his wife at any time he wished. The man was everything in the family and women could only follow what men tell them. They cannot be allowed to decide on their own. According to Al-Ali (2012), w omen in Egypt dress in the long dresses as in the Muslin religion culture. It is an abomination for a woman to put on a short skirt or tight trousers. It will be the violation of the norms of the society as well as going against the culture of the Muslim religion. 

The women in the ancient Egypt were stated lower than men when it came hierarchy. They were expected to avoid contact with men who are not kin. When married, women were to depend on their husbands in making all decisions, while their role was to do household chores. Married women were required to bear children to their husbands, especially sons. Barrenness was considered a curse and misfortune. Any woman who only gave birth to girls was deemed to be bad luck to the family. Hafez (2014) believe that the boy child was preferred to the girl child. Women in Egypt were entirely preoccupied with household chores and rearing of the children. Any contact with a man outside the family was a serious offense. 

The history of women’s rights movement in Egypt dates back to the 1919 revolution when women were very vocal and active. They collaborated with their male counterparts in the fight for the deliberation of Egypt ( Abu-Lughod, & El-Mahdi, 2011). However, after the political leadership was granted, they were never offered any political rights. As a result, they formed the informal activists such as Huda Sha’rawi’s which was transformed to the Egyptian Feminist Union in 1923. However, these organizations were abolished during the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser where legislation was passed to bring the civil society under the control of the state. 

Muslim laws such as the Sharia laws tend to violate the rights of women. These rules allow for female genital mutilations, a practice that has been proven to be medically risky for the lives of women. In this law, a man is allowed to divorce his wife at any time without giving a reason while a woman must provide reasons beyond a reasonable doubt before she is entitled to file a divorce case ( Hafez, S. 2014). It is yet a violation of the rights of women and treatment of women as inferior beings. These laws lead to infringement of the rights of women who are required to abide by the same rules. 

Currently, the treatment of women in Egypt is regulated by some laws. The female genital mutilation was banned in 2008 to protect the rights of the girl child whose lives were put at risks. Laws have also been passed restricting the minimum age at which a woman should be married unlike in the ancient times when minor girls were being forced into marriage. The implementation of the CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women) has helped in protecting the rights of women in the current times ( Newsom & Lengel, 2012). There have been some efforts by the government in enacting laws meant to protect the rights of women and call for gender equality. However, it remains a continuing war for the many decades to come if gender equality is to be realized in Egypt. 

In a step to promote the role of women in the society, a parallel women government was formed consisting of only independent female ministers ( Al-Ali, N. 2012) . The role of this parallel government is to promote the role of women in leadership and creation of the position of women in the society. The government of Egypt has currently incorporated women in the government unlike in the ancient times when no woman could be appointed a leader. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, a lot has been done in the war to achieve gender equality and close the gender gap that has existed for close to a century. Women have played a key role in this struggle, with some leading the protests and forming unions to fight for their rights. Several leaders have put in their efforts to see a nation where all people are treated equally. As a result of these efforts, some improvements have been witnessed with the formation of laws that protect the rights of women. But not much has been achieved as the gender gaps still exist in all sectors of the society in Egypt. The problem with the gender inequality in Egypt is because of the traditions and culture of the communities that were formed in the previous times assigning women a second treatment in the society. Unless the customs and norms of the society are changed, the struggle by women to achieve gender equality and remove gender gaps is just a continuing war that could go into the unforeseeable future. 

References 

Newsom, V. A., & Lengel, L. (2012). Arab Women, Social Media, and the Arab Spring: Applying the framework of digital reflexivity to analyze gender and online activism.  Journal of International Women's Studies ,  13 (5), 31. 

Hafez, S. (2014). The revolution shall not pass through women's bodies: Egypt, uprising and gender politics.  The Journal of North African Studies ,  19 (2), 172-185. 

Abu-Lughod, L., & El-Mahdi, R. (2011). Beyond the" woman question" in the Egyptian revolution.  Feminist Studies ,  37 (3), 683-691. 

Johansson-Nogués, E. (2013). Gendering the Arab Spring? Rights and (in) security of Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan women.  Security Dialogue ,  44 (5-6), 393-409. 

Al-Ali, N. (2012). Gendering the Arab Spring 1.  Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication ,  5 (1), 26-31.