5 - 11 April 2001
Issue No.528
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 5 - 11 April 2001 Issue No.528 |
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It is time to pay attention to the other half of the country's population. Reem Leila reviews the evidence
Life changes
The National Council for Women has been busy researching developments in Egyptian women's rights over the past 30 years. Now, it has issued its first report
The National Council for Women (NCW) has prepared its first Report on the Status of Women in Egypt, both in an attempt to explore and understand how reality has changed for women since 1970, and to establish a basis for future plans and policies to serve the cause of women. The NCW aims by the publication of this report at providing a source of up-to-date information that can help raise public awareness of the importance of women's development issues in the fields of housing, health care, education, as well as in the social, cultural, political, and environmental spheres.
photo: Khaled El-Fiqi
According to Farkhonda Hassan, secretary-general of the NCW, the report aims at recording the development of Egyptian women's status over time. This country, she explains, "has an endemic problem that is an obstacle in the way of development and aborts many efforts to raise the standard of living of citizens in general, and women in particular: illiteracy." Illiteracy among girls and women aged 10 to 44 in 1996 stands at 51 per cent; for males, the figure is much lower, but still very high at 29 per cent. According to the most recent statistics, female illiteracy is most widespread in rural areas, where it reaches rates of 63 per cent (36 per cent for males). In urban areas, female illiteracy rates hover around 34 per cent, while 20 per cent of males are illiterate.
Hassan believes that education today is widely perceived as the means for individuals and households to emerge from poverty. Considerable resources are being channeled into the field, "but much is yet to be accomplished, especially in regard to student learning and the fact that some problems are resilient and require concerted efforts of a cross-sectoral nature," she adds. The report reveals that, in 1981-'82 and 1999-'00, the rates of entrance to primary schools increased -- from 65 to 84 per cent for females and 79 to 90 per cent for males. At the preparatory level, the rate of attendance for girls increased from 49 to 54 per cent, but dropped drastically for boys, from 74 to 57 per cent. As for secondary education, the rate increased from 37 to 59 per cent for girls, and from 55 to 60 per cent for boys.
Population experts agree that educated mothers are more capable of providing their children with health care and good nutrition. They are also more likely to wait between pregnancies, thus improving the chances of each child's survival and growth.
International development organisations such as UNICEF use mortality rates among children under five as a major indicator of human and economic progress. According to Abdel-Basset Abdel-Mo'ti, professor of sociology at the Girls Faculty of Ain Shams University, who helped in the preparation of the report, all data on child mortality rates in Egypt show that health programmes and policies have had a great impact. Mortality rates among both boys and girls aged one to four fells from 75.5 to 30.3 per thousand between 1976 and 1998. "According to the demographic health study, there was a big gap in vaccination rates for males and females in 1997. This gap had nearly disappeared by 2000," he explains.
Despite the progress made in prolonging life expectancy and combating disease, there is still room for improvement in maternal health care and the reduction of child mortality rates, which have fallen from 174 cases per 100,000 live births in 1993 to 96 in 1997. "This means that medical services have improved considerably, but there is still more to be done," Abdel-Mo'ti notes.
The government-initiated health reform programme, coupled with increased investment in the health sector, have increased popular awareness of the importance of health in economic development. Despite these efforts, however, considerable obstacles remain in place; female genital mutilation (FGM), for instance, is still very widely practiced, affecting 98 to 100 per cent of women aged 15 to 45.
According to Zeinab Radwan, dean of Cairo University's Dar Al-Ulum (Fayoum branch) and vice-rapporteur of the NCW's legislative committee, Islam prohibits violent practices such as FGM. "In cooperation with the ministries of health, education, and information, the council will be redoubling its efforts to eliminate the practice," says Radwan.
Besides health care, the report includes a section on women's political participation. In 1986, women voters constituted only 14 per cent of the total number of registered voters (22 million). By 1999-'00, the rate had increased dramatically to 55.2 per cent. There are a few more women in parliament (two per cent in 2000) than there were half a century ago (0.5 per cent in 1956); the Shura Council has witnessed a comparable increase. Fawziya Abdel-Sattar, professor of law at Cairo University and rapporteur of the NCW's legislative committee, attributes the low rate of female participation in political life to high rates of illiteracy, poverty and the complexity of the laws regulating and affecting women's status.
So the gender gap remains wide in Egypt in several important respects. Absolute poverty is especially prevalent in female-headed households. "Households headed by women are more likely to seek assistance and resort to borrowing or selling assets to be able to cover living costs, which exceed their income," remarks Abdel-Sattar.
Egyptian women have always been involved in the labour force. According to the most recent work force sample survey, carried out by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of women capable of and willing to work was estimated at 15.3 per cent in 1996, as against only nine per cent in 1976. The nature of women's work has also changed: in the '60s, employed women were predominantly involved in agricultural activities. During the past two decades, however, women have grown increasingly active in industrial and service sectors, which account for 55.1 per cent of all employed women between 15 and 64 years old.
The report, finally, reveals that there is great discrimination in laws regulating family life and personal status. This is evident in such legislation as the "adultery law." Says Abdel-Sattar: "If a husband kills his wife for adultery, under the law he is innocent because he was defending his dignity. On the other hand, if a wife kills her husband for the same reason, she can be convicted of murder, and imprisoned for 10 to 15 years. This is ridiculous." Abdel-Sattar pledges that the NCW will be doing its utmost to amend such discriminatory legislation.
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