Oppression of Women

The poverty, illiteracy, fanaticism, and lack of enlightenment are all factors of suppression against women and it’s all due to the culture.  In Egypt the socio-economic conditions result in violence and that’s when the vicious cycle of oppressions started.  

In many conservative societies the family honour lies with the women, and the basic interactions with men outside wedlock in the lower class society brings shame that has no remedies except death known as honour killing, the scary thing about it, is that even a rumour that she spoke to someone else can get her killed.

People tend to circumcise their daughters to prevent them from doing the wrong, and they forget that this is a method of abusing her and her rights.

“I have circumcised all 7 daughters, this is what we do it to protect our honour, we are poor people, and her honour is the only and most important thing she has” said Ahmed Abbas, an illiterate farmer, working on a field to feed his family.

Abbas explained that this is what religion has queried him to do, and he’s done it to prevent the harm of a mistake.

Women in Egypt are considered a minority, they seem to lack freedom, voice, rights, and all others against men. They are alienated due to their circumstances and have been finding it hard to win the battle.

There are a lot of bounds placed on the rights of women and the notion of male patriarchy that ground these limits. Any Egyptian Muslim woman is deprived from the basics since her birth until her death.

Ever since she’s a little girl and her father has the option of circumcision, a lot of lower class educated or uneducated fathers circumcise their daughter in fear that she’d misbehave and lead the family to suffer.

“They are girls, I can’t afford mistakes, and this is why they don’t go to school they sit at home, help out with their mother, or come out and help out with the crops.” Abbas added

These girls have been deprived by an order from their father to stay home with the mother or come out with them

Soad Mohamed, A maid working to support her family said “he can do whatever he wants with me, hitting me is a way of discipline, it’s okay because that’s what god said.”

“He’s the man he has the luxury to say and do anything he wants, even if I don’t like it, I will have to accept it because he’s my man, and I can’t do without him.” Mohamed added.

Women are not allowed to have custody of their children once they get a divorce if they reach the age of twelve. They’re not allowed to have military jobs, running for presidency never was their thing, but this is the first year where there are female candidates.

Women are not allowed to marry within three months of their divorce, they’re not allowed to become police officers, exceptions are the tourism police, they’re not allowed to pray in the main halls of mosques, but only in the gardens. They can’t leave the country without their husband’s consent and of course they can only get a divorce with their husbands’ approval, even though there’s a new law for women to seek divorce but they make it extremely difficult to implement it. Egyptian Muslim women get half of the inheritance of their brothers. 

Monica Elashy