Rural Women in Egypt

This pocket size book gives in 164 pages a survey of the conditions of rural women in Egypt. The author, Atef Adli el-Abed, is a researcher who has to his credit a number of field studies on the topic.

( STUDY school-education, work, marriage, and political rights and problems they have to face. It also makes suggestions aiming at change and improvement.
The book contains a short introduction pointing out to the development of the women's liberation movement in the world and its beginnings in Egypt. According to a 1976 census, 2883 books and studies had already been published about rural women, who represent 27.7% of the Egyptian population. Yet there is still a large need for further study and despite the spreading consciousness regarding women's role in society, discrimination against women persists in every walk of life. As soon as she is born, a girl is made to feel that she is different. Her ears are pierced for earrings. She is oriented towards housework, while her brother is free to play outside. The fami Iy is ready to sacrifice money for the boy's education but not for the girl's.
The Egyptian State has been actively encouraging women's education by opening primary schools for girls. In 1978-79, the number of girls enrolled at this stage was 39.6% of the total number of primary students. In Khedive Ismail's time (1863-1879), higher education for women was introduced when a maternity school opened in 1832, preparingm idwives and women physicians. Betv.€en 1929 and 1930, women were admitted as students at universities. In 1976-1977, higher education for women at all levels and in all fields attained 33.8% of the whole student body in liberal colleges, and 23.6% in professional ones. Government help came in the following ways: raising the minimum age for marriage, increasing the number of elementary and secondary schools, establishing free education at all levels, allowing college students to marry, ensuring a larger variety of professional and technical schools for women ; , Women and Work: In 1976, the proportion of women working outside their homes reached 9.6% instead of 4.8% in 1960. Agricu Iture is the chief outside occupation for women. It included 43% of all working women in 1961 and 25% in 1971. The difference represents a shift toward technical and industrial occupations whose percentage rose from 8% in 1961 to 19% in 1971. The number of women engaged in secretarial and journalistic work rose from 2.5% of the whole body of working women in 1961 to 10.7% in 1971.

Political Rights
In 1956, Egyptian women were granted equal political rights with men. In 1975, only 16% of them took advantage of their right to vote. Local traditions and stereotypes are considered by the author as the chief obstacle to women's emancipation. Rural districts, generally isolated and closed to outside influences, are the permanent homes of traditional thinking and behavior.
The principal signs of underdevelopment among rural women are: complete sexism in family upbringing and treatment sexism in society, family arranged marriages, divorce as the privilege of husbands, polygamy, illiteracy, approval of early marriage, inequality of the sexes in civil law and in the laws of personal status.including those of inheritance, divorce, guardianship and so on .and distorted image of women in fiction, mass media and school books.
The author emphasizes the harmful influence of the folkloric heritage, particularly common proverbs and adages, in shaping people's attitudes towards women. Proverbs stand as a source of sacred wisdom; they are regarded as the standard by which men support and justify their behavior.

Factors Contributing to Women's Emancipation
According to the author, there are two sets of factors that may contribute to the emancipation of rural women. The first set · is general in nature. It includes the extension of education, the increase in the number of cooperatives of every kind, the d isi ntegrati on of large properties. The spread of religious reform and the establishment of a democratic government.
Other factors are: the improvement and extention of mass media and form of com m u n icatio n with urban life and with developing countries, and the contribution of returning emigrants and government officials established in the village.
The second set of factors directly influencing women are: The increase in the number of girls' schools and the improvement of their standards. The development of women's work outside the home The modernization of laws of personal status which give working women equal rights to men at the same time, allowing them certain rights and privileges which alleviate their double burdent The instauration of social projects contributing to the improvement of rural life (such as the projects of Rural Pioneers) Economicaly productive families Rural services Village fairs and exhibits Us i ng radio and television as means of instruction and enlightenment regarding women's needs.

Field Studies Performed by the Author
The results obtained through the author's field studies and interviews (performed in 1978 -1979 in a traditional Egyptian village) serve to show the importance of broadcasting programs and other mass media in changing the attitude of rural people regarding women. The respondents who listened to radio programs and read papers and magazines were generally more disposed to adopt a positive attitude with regard to women's liberation. As an example, 87.5% of respondents who listened to radio broadcasts were in favor of women's education against 6.9% of those who did not.
Oth~r factors affecting the respondents' approval or disapproval of gir~s' edu.ca~ion were: the annual income-parent's level of education and contact with the outside world. A higher degree of approval existed when the family income was higher, the parents were literate, and had contact with the printed media and the outside world.
The same" results were obtained regarding the questions dealing with women's work outside the ' home, their practice of political rights, their right to free choice in marriage and to respectful treatment within the family.

Conclusion
The value of this book rests on its comprehensive character, enhanced by the large ) number of references as well as an abundance of stCItistics covering the period between 1956 and 1979. While it is true that most of the statistics revolve around Egyptian women in general and are not restricted to the conditions of rural women, the autlu>r devotes to the latter the chapters dealing with factors of women's enslavement and those leading to their liberation, besides the important section presenting the results of field studies and interviews he made in . 1978-197 (pp. 121-164).
The book is part of the series of monthly publication issued by Dar-el-Ma'aref under the general title: "Iqra" (Read), for the benefit of the large public which is in bad need of reliable information about women, particularly the neglected rural women of Egypt.
Readers who are fami liar with the problems of Arab women will notice that most of the needs which the book attributes to the rural women of Egypt are shared by the rural women of other Arab countries.

Arab Women
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