Egypt: Seeking an Impossible Balance

The fight for women’s rights has moved a step further in Egypt as new legislation was passed that raised the age at which girls can legally marry to 18. How has this move affected the traditionally conservative society? And, what sort of spillover effects will this have on the rest of the region?

In June 2008, the Egyptian Parliament passed a series of legal amendments in the name of child protection. The new legislation criminalizes Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), allows the registration of children whose father’s identity is unknown to be registered in their mother’s name, and raises the marriageable age of girls from 16 to 18. These amendments raised fierce debates about the interplay between human rights, Islamic law, and patriarchal traditions when it comes to governance in the region’s most populous country.

Egypt, which faces much criticism for its violations of human rights and its failure to protect marginalized members of society, has been under a state of...

emergency law for nearly three decades. With the constitution suspended and the security apparatus operating above the law, legislation like the recent child protection amendments is viewed as a welcome and surprisingly progressive move. With that said, it is often held by commentators and scholars that progressive change is likely to take place in courtrooms and in legislature long before it occurs in society.

The Framework
Like several other Middle Eastern countries, Egypt’s legal system has a mixture of secular and religious influences – in this case, a combination of Sharia law and the Napoleonic Code. The latter was introduced to Egypt following Napoleon Bonaparte’s brief but influential occupation of the country, which led to Egyptian jurists studying and training in France. The Egyptian legal system is thus considered a civil law system, resting on well-established and codified sets of laws. A 1980 amendment to the Egyptian constitution, technically the highest form of law in the country, designates Islam as the religion of the state. This has been interpreted to mean simply that the state shall not pass legislation that contradicts a prevailing principle of Sharia.

However, laws pertaining to personal status, which cover issues as crucial as marriage and inheritance, are drawn directly from Sharia. Sharia courts were integrated into the National Court system in 1956; today, all family law cases are heard in National Courts presided over by judges trained in Sharia.

This legislative framework can prove troublesome for a parliament comprised of two main opposing forces: that of the ruling party, the nominally secular National Democratic Party (NDP), versus that of the increasingly popular Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood, while not officially recognized as a political party, is granted an ever-shifting space by the state within which to participate in the political and social systems. In the most recent parliamentary elections, the Brotherhood won a large number of seats in the People’s Assembly (the lower house and holder of the last word in legislative questions). They form the largest opposition bloc to the NDP, which still holds a sweeping majority.

The new child protection laws were advocated and pushed by members of the NDP and members of the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood (NCMC), which is led by First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. Brotherhood MPs and their allies voiced outrage regarding these laws, claiming that they contradict Sharia and therefore the religion of the state. Mohamed El-Omda, an independent MP with Islamist leanings, commented: “The problem is that the NCMC obtained millions of dollars in donations from Western institutions to push their non-Islamic agenda on Egypt. Its members want to see this agenda enacted as soon as possible so they can claim more cash donations.” El-Omda also led a demonstration in favor of FGM, accompanied by his mother and his two daughters, in front of the People’s Assembly.

Marriage and morality
In rural Egypt, it is not uncommon for girls to be married by their families, sometimes against their will, at 13 and 14 years of age. This trend has gained attention in recent years with the rise of cases in which families marry their young daughters to older, wealthy men in exchange for large sums of money.
Child marriages are deemed as a threat to young girls by human rights groups for several reasons, including: the health risks involved in teenage pregnancies, the fact that child brides are deprived of education, and the many cases in which young girls do not give – nor or are they asked for - their consent to a marriage.

Brotherhood members and other opponents of raising marriageable age laws argue that, since Sharia does not specify a minimum age requirement for marriage, it is appropriate to place it at the point of sexual maturity, which they deem to be 15 or 16. The silence of Islamic law regarding marriageable ages has also been cited in the legal systems of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other countries in the region which do not specify minimum age requirements for marriage. Conservative societies often encourage marriage at a young age as it is seen as a way to prevent pre-marital sex, support the traditional family structure and maintain moral order.

The push and the backlash that took place in parliament with regards to these amendments mirrors the schisms in society at large. Egypt’s society, even in its most urban form settings, tends to be on the traditional side of the spectrum. Morality and religiosity come hand in hand, and change is often received with skepticism if not suspicion.

One student of Islamic studies said: “It is a Western conception of right and wrong, one that does not take into account the circumstances or the culture. Who is to say that a 16-year-old girl, uneducated, and given few rights by her family, is not better off in a happy marriage? It should be left to private individuals to decide. That is why Islam does not require a certain age to be passed; the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) consummated his marriage with Aisha when she was only 9 years old. The world is different now, but puberty implies sexual maturity and to prevent sexually mature individuals from getting married will encourage immoral and sinful relations.”

It is too early to tell what the impact of raising the marriageable age will be in a society that is staunchly patriarchal – a characteristic which is all the more prominent in rural areas where child marriages most frequently occur. What is evident is that Egypt’s efforts to address pressing social problems will continue to bring to the surface the starkly differing views on governance that are held by its most vocal groups.
en.v

January 2000
The Egyptian Parliament passes a law allowing women to divorce their husbands for incompatibility. Previously, women had to provide proof of mistreatment by their husbands in order to be granted a divorce, whereas a man could divorce a woman by stating “I divorce you” three times.

November 2001
Saudi Arabia issues ID cards for women. Previously, women’s names, but not pictures, were provided on their father’s or husband’s ID cards. In 2006, it became mandatory that all Saudi women carry ID cards of their own.

May 2005
After years of advocacy by Kuwaiti women and women’s rights groups, women in Kuwait obtain equal political rights. They voted for the first time in a municipal by-election in April 2006.

July 2007
Egypt completely bans the practice of Female Genital Mutilation within its borders, closing a legal loophole which had allowed FGM to be carried out in private and government hospitals. This move was accompanied by the launch of a national campaign to raise awareness of the harmful effects of FGM, including the creation of an FGM hotline.

October 2008
An Egyptian court sentences a man to three years in prison for verbally and physically harassing a woman on the street. While sexual harassment is widely prevalent in public places, this was the first time a perpetrator was successfully prosecuted for his offence.

By Yasmin El Rifae

Egypt: Seeking an Impossible Balance

The fight for women’s rights has moved a step further in Egypt as new legislation was passed that raised the age at which girls can legally marry to 18. How has this move affected the traditionally conservative society? And, what sort of spillover effects will this have on the rest of the region?

What is an Arab?

The Life of an ‘IT’ Bag

Follow en.v