III. Percentage of women in educational positions
Because of women’s interest in this area, the percentage of women in educational positions has increased significantly, as follows:
Level or type of school Percentage of women in educational positions
1992/93 1997/98
(a) Elementary 51.76 52.30
(b) Preparatory 44.04 42.40
(c) Secondary 35.70 36.90
(d) Industrial 25.09 34.11
(e) Agricultural 23.38 28.00
(f) Commercial 45.50 46.20
(g) Teacher training 49.10
(h) University 31.70
IV. Academic curricula and activities
Physical education and arts subjects of various kinds have been introduced as basic subjects in the education of girls at all levels. The National Women’s Committee also called for the inclusion of the Convention on Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child among subjects to be taught from the earliest stage of education.
The Ministry of Education is currently engaged in a detailed review of academic curricula with a view to incorporating information on all human-rights instruments at various levels of education in order to promote awareness of these rights, to ensure their enjoyment, and to counter any incompatible ideas, assumptions or practices.
The endeavours that have been made to develop educational curricula in Egypt, particularly at the primary and preparatory levels, are characterized by their comprehensive and democratic approach to the process of educational reform and development, since the philosophy underlying the development of the curricula takes into consideration the views, concerns and particularities of all sections of society and is not confined solely to the viewpoint of educationalists. This gives a clear indication of the manifold dimensions of the development of curricula and the various subjects and concepts that must be incorporated therein.
One of the main principles that Egypt has adopted in regard to the development of curricula is the need to clearly shift the emphasis from the quantitative to the qualitative aspects of knowledge, from teaching to learning and from concentration on memorization by rote to development of the student’s ability to think in a critical manner, solve problems and take decisions.
In recent years, a number of important issues and topics have arisen which must be taught to pupils and students since they all have a bearing on daily life and, more generally, on life in the twenty-first century with all its scientific, social, economic, technological and political changes. These issues are:
Human rights Traffic awareness
The rights of the child Tourism and development of tourist awareness
The prevention of discrimination
against women Respect for work and the quality of production
Environmental conservation
and embellishment Life skills
Preventive and therapeutic health care National unity
Proper use and development of resources Tolerance and education for peace
Population growth and its effect on Globalization and integration among the
development peoples of the world
Legal awareness of rights and obligations Rationalization of consumption and consumer
protection
Appropriate concepts concerning these issues, including human rights, have been incorporated in the developed curricula.
Competition for writers of textbooks
In accordance with the recommendations of the conferences on curricula development, an international competition is organized for writers of school textbooks. The author’s ability to incorporate these issues in the textbook is one of the conditions of entry and also one of the criteria on which the jury selects the winning book. This ensures that the authors take a serious approach to those concepts in their books.
Editing and publication of textbooks
During the editing and publication of school textbooks, specialists ensure that the requisite concepts are included in the academic content of each book, to which they add material designed to emphasize and strengthen those concepts.
Copy books for related activities
In order to ensure that the student understands the issues and concepts set forth in the school textbook, a copy book containing a number of practical activities is also supplied with a view to providing him or her with an opportunity to practise and apply these concepts in his or her everyday conduct.
Teachers’ manuals
Since these issues have been incorporated in the curricula only relatively recently, the teachers’ manuals accompanying the school textbooks carefully explain them to the teacher and indicate the ways in which they should be presented to students in various classes.
Teacher training
In order to ensure that the teacher understands these issues and concepts, they are emphasized and highlighted during training courses at which various strategies are also proposed for the teaching of these issues and concepts in such a way as to instil them into the minds of students as a practical activity. For example, while explaining a question that needs to be illustrated by data, mathematics teachers can take the opportunity to enrich their students’ tourist awareness by providing them with data on tourist sites, numbers of visitors, and so on.
Within the framework of Egypt’s commitment to the instruments concerning human rights and fundamental freedoms, considerable attention has been paid to human-rights issues in several fields, including human rights in general, the rights of the child, women’s rights and the prevention of discrimination against women
This process required a study of the Arab, regional and international instruments defining those rights, after which meetings were held with specialists in the concepts involved in the issue of human rights, as in the case of all other issues, in order to analyze them and classify them as basic or subsidiary concepts ranging from simple to profound in a manner consistent with the different age levels of the various academic grades. These analyses were subsequently expressed in the form of a sequential matrix of concepts in order to facilitate the selection of those most relevant to the subjects studied at each academic level and grade.
Concepts involved in the issue of human rights
The right to a decent life The right to form a family
The right to education and further education The right to consideration and respect
The right to comprehensive health care The right to suitable housing
The right to wholesome food The right to personal liberty
The right to freedom of travel and movement The rights of civilians in time of war
The rights of children, women and older
persons in time of war The rights of families in time of war
The right to participate in political and social life The right to engage in religious observance
The right to work The right to enjoy peace and security
The right to freedom of assembly The right to safe childbirth
The right to enjoy leisure time The right to practise sport
The right to freedom of choice and The right to differ
decision making
The right to own property
The academic curricula up to the third preparatory grade have already been developed, and the process is currently being completed up to the end of the secondary level. Preparations are also being made to hold a second conference on the development of secondary-level curricula, and preliminary studies and research are being undertaken in order to ensure that this conference can be held at an early date.
With regard to the inclusion of human rights issues in the academic curricula for this age level, it is expected that they will continue to be taught through the above-mentioned amalgamation method involving the selection of concepts most appropriate to this age level. This requires more in-depth study of ways in which such issues can be taught in a direct and subject-oriented manner.
In addition to the amalgamation and integration method, it has been proposed that secondary-level curricula should be based on a core curriculum in which a number of basic academic subjects would be studied by all pupils, who would also be able to choose a number of other subjects in accordance with their own wishes and predilections.
A separate syllabus might be formulated within the core curriculum for human rights, civic education or life skills in general, or, alternatively, students might be offered the choice of a syllabus comprising some important issues suited to the requirements of their age level. As in the case of the primary and preparatory levels, care will have to be taken to train teachers in the best ways to approach these concepts.
Article 11
1.States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular:
(a)The right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings;
(b)The right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment;
(c)The right to free choice of profession and employment, the right to promotion, job security and all benefits and conditions of service and the right to receive vocational training and retraining, including apprenticeships, advanced vocational training and recurrent training;
(d)The right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work;
(e)The right to social security, particularly in cases of retirement, unemployment, sickness, invalidity and old age and other incapacity to work, as well as the right to paid leave;
(f)The right to protection of health and safety in working conditions, including the safeguarding of the function of reproduction.
2.In order to prevent discrimination against women on the grounds of marriage or maternity and to ensure their effective right to work, States Parties shall take appropriate measures;
(a)To prohibit, subject to the imposition of sanctions, dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy or of maternity leave and discrimination in dismissals on the basis of marital status;
(b)To introduce maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits without loss of former employment, seniority or social allowances;
(c)To encourage the provision of the necessary supporting social services to enable parents to combine family obligations with work responsibilities and participation in public life, in particular through promoting the establishment and development of a network of childcare facilities;
(d)To provide special protection to women during pregnancy in types of work proved to be harmful to them.
3.Protective legislation relating to matters covered in this article shall be reviewed periodically in the light of scientific and technological knowledge and shall be revised, repealed or extended as necessary.
Women and the right to work under the Egyptian Constitution
Articles 8, 10, 11, 13 , 14 and 17 of the Egyptian Constitution stipulate that work is a right, a duty and an honour guaranteed by the State. It cannot be imposed except by law and for the purpose of performing public service, and deserves equitable remuneration. The State is obliged to provide opportunities for citizens, and to ensure that public appointments are open to all. The State must enable women to combine family obligations with work responsibilities, and ensure women’s equality with men in all fields. It must also provide health insurance and social services, and invalidity, unemployment and retirement benefits to all citizens, in accordance with the law. The State must similarly protect motherhood and the child. Concrete expression is thereby given to the principles of the right to work and the right to free choice of employment, and it is guaranteed that work cannot be imposed and that opportunities will be available. The State’s obligation to ensure women’s equality with men in all fields in clarified, as is its obligation to enable women to combine family obligations with their right to work. The State must also provide work-related health and social-insurance services and protect motherhood and the child.
II. Women and the right to work under Egyptian law
Egyptian labour laws have made the principles laid down by the Constitution obligatory, since they have given legal protection to the right to work by making it a crime to violate or attempt to violate that right. They have also made it a crime to flout the laws governing the employment of women, as the following details make clear:
1. Penal Code
(a) Article 275 of the Penal Code (Law No. 58 of 1937, modifying Law No. 34 of 1951) states that it is a criminal offence to violate another person’s right to work, or that persons’ right to employ a third party, or, in order to prevent another person from employing a third party, to use force or violence or illegitimate means such as stalking, or concealing equipment or clothing. The penalty for that offence, or for incitement thereto, is a maximum prison sentence of two years, in addition to a maximum fine of 100 Egyptian pounds.
(b) Reference is made in part one, chapter III, section 8, of this report to the articles of the Penal Code which make it an offence to assault women or use violence against them.
2. Law No. 139 of 1981 concerning the Labour Code
Article 150 of the Law establishes a general provision guaranteeing the applicability to female workers of all the stipulations made with regard to the employment of workers. No differentiation is to be made between them on the basis of the employment involved, and the provisions governing the employment of women must not be infringed. Articles 152 and 153 authorize the Minister of Manpower to define the conditions under which women are permitted to work at night. He or she also has the right to define the types of work which are harmful to women’s health or morals and in which women may not be employed (such as the production of explosives, or in mines, quarries and furnaces). Employers of women workers on night-shift must provide the guarantees necessary for their security, protection and safe transportation. As part of the constitutional obligation to protect motherhood and the child, and in order to ensure that women are able to combine family obligations with their work, the law gives women the following rights:
(a) Article 158 provides that owners of establishments employing more than 100 women shall set up a nursery. Where a smaller number of women in employed, the law stipulates that establishments located in one area shall participate in the cost of providing a nursery.
(b) The articles of this Law give a comprehensive list of reasons for termination of employment and dismissal unrelated to marital status, pregnancy or maternity.
(c) Article 174 of the Law states that any infraction of the provisions related to the employment of women is a crime, for which a fine shall be imposed.
3. Law No. 47 of 1978 governing State employment and Law No. 48 of 1978 concerning regulation of public sector employment
Both these Laws contain similar provisions with regard to women, in accordance with the precepts set out in the Constitution regarding the State guarantee that women shall be enabled to combine family obligations with work responsibilities. Details of these provisions are as follows:
(a) There are no provisions in either Law that could be considered to violate the principle of equality between men and women. That includes all the provisions regulating employment and the rights and responsibilities arising therefrom, remuneration, promotion and health and social insurance.
(b) The provisions of both Laws guarantee the granting of rights to women, particularly in the context of the constitutional obligation to protect maternity, the child and the family. Details are as follows:
- Both men and women have the right to take leave without pay in order to accompany their spouse abroad.
- The laws give a comprehensive list of reasons for termination of service unrelated to marital status, pregnancy or maternity.
- Women working in government institutions have the right to work half time if they so request, receiving half pay and allowances, including overtime, and paying half of the taxes (Prime Minister’s Decree No. 187 of 2000).
4. The Children’s Act No. 12 of 1996
The Children’s Act No. 12 of 1996 contains a special section devoted to working women which stipulates different treatment to be afforded to women working in the government and public sectors and those working in the private sector. The Law accords working women the right to the following privileges:
- Three months’ post-natal maternity leave on full pay on three occasions during her working life (art. 80).
- Two rest breaks of one hour on full pay for a period of up to two years after the birth for the purpose of breastfeeding the child (art. 71).
- The right to two years’ unpaid leave for the purpose of child rearing, on three occasions during her working life (art. 72).
5. Labour conventions
Egypt joined the International Labour Organization in 1936, and has acceded to 118 of its conventions, including Convention No. 41 concerning Employment of Women during the Night (revised 1934); Convention No. 89 concerning Night Work of Women Employed in Industry (revised 1948) and Convention No. 100 concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value (1951). These conventions are considered to have the same legislative status as Egyptian laws, and to be equally binding. Furthermore, the relevant labour laws incorporate the precepts and obligations enshrined in the provisions of the said conventions.
6. Law No. 50 of 1977 concerning childcare facilities
This Law was enacted with a view to encouraging the establishment of childcare facilities for children under six years old, thus facilitating women’s entry into the labour market by the provision of the necessary protection for children during working hours.
7. Laws concerning social insurance and social security
(a) Law No. 79 of 1975, concerning social insurance, applies to those employed by the Government and in the public and private sectors.
This Law provides general precepts applicable to both men and women, covering entitlement and the conditions attached thereto, including cases where a husband is entitled to his wife’s salary and vice versa. In certain circumstances, this Law gives a divorced women entitlement to her husband’s pension (art. 105). Article 112 gives a widow the right to combine her own income or personal pension with her husband’s pension, with no limitations.
(b) Law No. 112 of 1980, concerning social insurance for the labour force, provides coverage for all working groups not covered by the first Law, such as agricultural labourers, household servants, employers, building labourers, part-time and seasonal workers, owners of agricultural land, fishermen and trainees. The Law provides coverage for all groups, without discriminating between men and women, and specifies the rules for participation and those entitled to participate.
Law No. 30 of 1977, concerning social security, is intended to guarantee a minimum income for families with no insurance coverage, including orphans, widows, divorcees, pregnant women, the totally incapacitated, the elderly, the families of prisoners, invalids, breastfeeding mothers, and families with no breadwinner. The Law guarantees that they shall be provided with a monthly pension of a lump-sum emergency payment.
III. The right to work and the actual position of women with regard to work
Women have made significant gains in Egypt as a result of efforts made by the State, its development plans implementing the policy of encouraging women to work and opening every field to them, and the success of educational policies in raising educational levels and eradicating illiteracy, as the following indicates:
Women represented 31.2 per cent of employees in all branches of government service in 1998, an additional 534,158 women over the 1993 figure (see Appendix, Tab. 1).
The number of women in top executive positions in the government sector rose from 2.8 per cent in 1981 to 13 per cent in 1993 and 16.7 per cent in 1998 (see Appendix, Tab. 2).
Women represented 29.6 per cent of all those working in science or technology in 1996.
The number of women achieving masters degrees or doctorates reached 65.8 per cent in 1996.
The percentage of women working in various fields is as follows:
Journalism - 25.20 per cent in 1994
Diplomatic corps - 15.30 per cent in 1998, compared with 14 per cent in 1995
Broadcasting and television - 33.80 per cent in 1992
and, for the period 1996/97:
Elementary schools – 52.30 per cent
Preparatory schools – 42.40 per cent
General secondary schools – 36.90 per cent
Industrial education schools – 34.11 per cent
Agricultural secondary schools – 28.00 per cent
Commercial secondary schools – 46.20 per cent
Teacher training colleges – 49.01 per cent
University teaching – 31.70 per cent.
There has been a significant increase – from 18.7 per cent in 1984 to 21.2 per cent in 1999 – in the proportion of women working in the liberal professions.
IV. Social services and training
The following table illustrates the scale of activities that have been pursued by the Government through the Ministry of Social Affairs in the field of social services and training for women.
Item Number Number of users Remarks
Women’s clubs 571 49,460 510 subsidized and 61 self-supporting
Immigrant centres 185 12,756 160 run by welfare associations and
25 by development associations
Vocational training 62 3,932 Centres include 234 departments
centres
Family guidance and 104 7,720 Number of users equal to number of
counselling offices persons completing service in 1998
Associations for 2,457 13,295 Number of users equals the number
social development that completed their training in 1998
Social welfare 887 8,405 Number of users equals the number
associations that completed their training in 1998
Social rehabilitation 115 39,242 Including those suffering from deafness,
offices blindness, physical and mental impairments, leprosy, tuberculosis and heart problems
Foster family project - 3,964 Paid and unpaid foster families, including those offering foster homes
Productive families - 25,808 Number of families that completed
project service in 1998
Social security net - 318,849 Including monthly stipends and assistance, one-off emergency
payments and disaster funds
Nurseries 6,435 470,987 Comprising 17,173 classes
Children’s clubs 458 46,512 Comprising both welfare and
development clubs
With respect to the social services responsible for encouraging and supporting women, and enabling them to combine family obligations with work responsibilities, State efforts led to an increase in the number of childcare facilities from 2,355 in 1983 to 6,435 in 1998. Twenty-five centres have been opened in order to offer working women reasonably-priced services such as the provision of fully-or half-prepared meals, cleaning and ironing services.
The non-governmental sector is very active in this field, through a network of local development associations which has expanded from 3,472 in 1995 to some 3,889, all spread throughout the Republic.
One hundred and four offices have been established in order to provide family advice for women working away from their original homes.
V. Training
In Egypt, the State provides some professional training through the network of technical secondary schools and higher educational institutions. The non-governmental sector provides professional-training centres.
The policy of encouraging women to break into the field of government work has succeeded in raising the proportion of women enrolling in technical secondary schools from 43.3 per cent in 1991 to 45.6 per cent in 1997/98.
The non-governmental sector’s network of local development associations saw an increase in the number of employment and professional-training centres for girls from 1,567 in 1991 to 2,656 in 1998 all spread throughout the Republic.
VI. Women supporting families
Recent studies, based on sample studies, have shown that the proportion of women supporting families has grown to 22 per cent. Bereavement and divorce are considered the two main reasons for women to become breadwinners. Law No. 30 of 1977, concerning social security, covers these cases and assures them of a minimum income, through what are called security pensions for families without breadwinners. The State meets requirements through human-resource-training programmes, and by channelling public resources to environmental, domestic and commercial industries. The “productive-families” project is in the forefront of State projects intended to develop economic resources for the family, together with training projects for rural women.
There are currently 3,025 centres for the training of productive families, located in every village, town and neighbourhood district in Egypt, and used by 25,808 families in 1998. In 1998, 318,849 cases benefited from the social-security law, compared with 204,380 in 1993. Private and public associations are using various means to support the development of local associations, of which there are 3,472 throughout the country.
In this context, it is worth mentioning that the relevant bodies are currently studying how best to implement the recommendations made by the National Conference on Women in Egypt to the effect that all legislation and other measures concerning employment should be reviewed, in order to give a sustained impetus to women in this field. The relevant authorities are currently considering the means of implementing these recommendations taking the necessary measures for that purpose.
Article 12
1.States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning.
2.Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article, States Parties shall ensure to women appropriate services in connection with pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting free services where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.
State provision of health care is guaranteed by the Constitution. Articles 16 and 17 guarantee that the State shall provide health services and seek to improve their quality and individual access to them. All citizens have the right to health insurance, and men and women have equal rights to the same services, without prejudice or discrimination. Women can use a range of services relating to pregnancy and post-natal care, and the Ministry of Health has created an extensive network of hospitals, treatment centres, health-care centres and clinics in Egyptian cities and rural areas. By 1998, health-care cover stood at almost 100 per cent, with a ratio of two doctors and two nurses for every 1,000 inhabitants.
The health-insurance scheme offers treatment to State employees, salaried workers and widows, and was extended in 1993 to include schoolchildren. The scheme, which is paid for out of a token contribution by insured persons and employers, makes use of a large network of 25 hospitals and 116 clinics in 16 governorates. It serves the needs of 17.4 million citizens, compared with 15 million in 1995, including students, men, women and children, and does not discriminate on the basis of gender.
Women are given priority access to health-care services, including those provided by private cooperatives. In 1990, there were some 573 local-development cooperatives throughout Egypt, with a further 171 offering services to mothers and children, and 320 providing family-planning services.
The media plays an important role here by broadcasting health-education programmes on television and radio. The purpose of these programmes, sponsored by the Ministry of Health or by the media, is to educate the public about simple and appropriate health-care techniques, to improve general levels of education and culture, and to reduce illiteracy.
The State has been particularly successful in increasing the number of services offered to women and raising awareness about health issues in relation to pregnancy, children and family planning, as the following data show:
1. Life expectancy for women rose from 52 years of age in 1981 to 66.4 in 1998.
2. The mortality rate for nursing infants fell from 76 per 1,000 births in 1980 to 25 in 1998.
3. The infant-mortality rate fell from 11 per 1,000 in 1980 to 2.17 in 1998.
4. The fertility rate fell from 5.28 per cent in 1980 to 3.4 per cent in 1998.
5. The percentage of women using contraception rose from 24 in 1980 to 51.8 in 1998.
6. The number of professionally-assisted births rose from 9.4 per cent in 1980 to 55.2 per cent in 1998.
7. The percentage of children being vaccinated rose from 68 in 1985 to 84.3 in 1998.
The increase in the percentage of children receiving various kinds of vaccination is illustrated in the table below.
Type of vaccination Boys Girls
Tuberculosis 98.40 97.90
Triple vaccine 87.20 88.00
Infant polio (triple dose) 89.00 90.30
Hepatitis 81.00 81.80
8. The death rate among women during pregnancy or childbirth fell from 320 per 100,000 in 1986 to 174 in 1993.
9. The percentage of early marriages (under 16 years of age) fell from 16 in 1991 to 11 in 1998, while the proportion of women in the under-nineteen age group who were pregnant or had given birth in 1995 was 10.20 per cent.
10. The percentage of births spaced less than two years apart fell from 30 in 1986 to 25 in 1991.
11. The percentage of women involved in making decisions about fertility rose from 40 in 1986 to 66.6 in 1995.
Abortion
Articles 260 to 264 of Egypt’s law on abortion prescribe the penalties for this crime as follows:
(a) A person who causes a women to abort whether by striking her or by any other form of injury shall be punished by a term of imprisonment with hard labour (art. 260).
(b) A person who induces an abortion through the use of drugs or other methods, with or without the woman’s consent, shall be punished by a term of imprisonment (art. 261).
Female excision
Female excision is viewed as an old custom which has begun to die out as a result of the education of women in urban areas. The practice continues on a reduced scale in remote rural areas, where it is carried out in secret, far from clinics and hospitals which do not permit it, using primitive methods. Thus, it is not possible to provide statistical data on the practice. The State is tireless in its efforts to eradicate female excision, by extending education, combating illiteracy and directing the media to draw attention to the damaging effects of the practice. The Penal Code also prescribes penalties for those who perform these operations, based on the fact that they are operating as medical practitioners without the requisite licence, and causing injury and suffering to the person who undergoes such an operation.
The Minister of Health and Population issued Ordinance No. 261 of 8 July 1996 prohibiting female excision operations at public and private hospitals and clinics except in cases in which such an operation is clinically indicated by the treating physician.
Pursuant to general recommendation No. 14 of 1990, concerning female excision, and in keeping with general State policies in this regard, particular stress has been laid on the dissemination of proper health information through the media and through government and voluntary endeavours to make families aware of the harm caused by female excision.
Ministers of religion are also helping by making it clear that this custom is not based on any religious teachings.
Article 13
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in other areas of economic and social life in order to ensure, on a basis of equality between men and women, the same rights, in particular:
(a)The right to family benefits;
(b)The right to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit;
(c)The right to participate in recreational activities, sports and all aspects of cultural life.
Article 11 of the Constitution contains a general provision which stipulates that the State shall guarantee equality between men and women in political, economic and social life. This principle is reflected in all laws and regulations which Egypt has adopted.
Neither civil law nor commercial law makes any distinction between men and women with regard to the regulations governing civil or commercial competence. Thus, men and women are equal before the law at their majority, and with regard to the circumstances and procedures for declaring legal incompetence and appointing a trustee or guardian. This information has already been covered in part one, chapter III of this report. A woman has full financial independence and legal personality in the exercise of all her rights, including the right to own or inherit property, to perform business, legal and administrative transactions, and to obtain loans or mortgages of all kinds without any restrictions or conditions being imposed on her freedom before or after marriage, or by her father or her husband. Women receive all family benefits (health care and health insurance, etc.) when they are widowed or divorced, in accordance with the laws in force, and are entitled to family support in the absence of the husband, or if they have custody of children following divorce. This does not adversely affect their own insurance benefit.
Women at all levels, in the Government and elsewhere, are also entitled to special social and health benefits arising from their role as wives, mothers, carers or guardians of children, as was explained in part one of this report.
Egyptian women also participate freely and fully in recreational activities, games, sports and cultural life with girls taking physical education and artistic training as part of their basic education at all levels. There are also university departments for physical education for girls, which are working to create a generation of specialists who will ensure that sports are available to girls throughout their education. Egyptian society is full of women who have gained prominence in sports and the arts, winning sports awards and cultural and artistic prizes at the local, regional and international levels.
Students’ sports associations, rural clubs and youth centres throughout the country have done a great deal to encourage the establishment of girls’ sports teams and to organize national competitions for these teams as a way of helping to promote sports for girls. These bodies also organize important social, recreational, and cultural activities, such as educational trips and artistic and cultural competitions.
The private sector, as represented by women’s associations and other organizations, plays an active part in this domain, using a huge network of associations throughout Egypt.
Article 14
1.States Parties shall take into account the particular problems faced by rural women and the significant roles which rural women play in the economic survival of their families, including their work in the non-monetized sectors of the economy, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure the application of the provisions of the present Convention to women in rural areas.
2.States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural development and, in particular, shall ensure to such women the right:
(a)To participate in the elaboration and implementation of development planning at all levels;
(b)To have access to adequate health care facilities, including information counselling and services in family planning;
(c)To benefit directly from social security programmes;
(d)To obtain all types of training and education, formal and non-formal, including that relating to functional literacy as well as, inter alia, the benefit of all community and extension services, in order to increase their technical proficiency;
(e)To organize self-help groups and cooperatives in order to obtain equal access to economic opportunities through employment or self-employment:
(f)To participate in all community activities;
(g)to have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes;
(h)To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and communications.
The Egyptian Constitution pays particular attention to the situation of rural women in Egypt, requiring the State to guarantee them cultural, social and health-care services and to improve the quality of their lives (art. 16). All rural-development plans in Egypt focus on improving the lot of rural women, which is seen as fundamental to achieving progress in this domain. According to statistics for 1996, the proportion of the population living in rural areas rose from 53 per cent in 1991 to 57 per cent.
In line with its rural-development plans, Egypt played an active part in the preparation of the 1992 Geneva Declaration for Rural Women, while government policy has underlined the growing importance of rural women. All the related ministries (Health, Education, Culture, Social Affairs, Agriculture and Local Government) have undertaken projects which are targeted at rural women in general, seeking to improve their lot and meet their needs. The bulk of investment loans are earmarked for that purpose, as is cooperation from designated international organizations. (The institutional mechanisms, agencies and organizations working for the advancement of women are described in part one, chapter V, of this report, and in the commentary on article 3 of the Convention, in part two).
In addition to government bodies and agencies, private associations, which are supported by the State, have an important role to play, since they promote development at the local, village and town levels, and are connected to all women’s associations. Women play a major role in administering or in working in these associations, which cover such areas as health improvement, comprehensive care and family planning. Around 1,746 women’s committees were working in rural women’s development centres in 1989, with 3,572 associations for health care and social development in the Egyptian countryside, working on family and childcare issues as well as rural community development.
The following is a list of governmental and non-governmental projects aimed at supporting the advancement of rural women:
1. A comprehensive health-care and –development project for rural children, under the auspices of the National Council for the Mother and the Child; the project includes a children’s nutrition programme and training in preparation of economic meals, so as to improve children’s health;
2. The national campaign to eradicate illiteracy, particularly among rural women, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme;
3. A project to improve the health of rural women, in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund, offering training to expectant mothers and educating women about nutrition;
4. A project to improve family-planning services, in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations Population Fund;
5. A project to promote self-reliance among rural women, offering them loans for income-generating activities, in cooperation with the International Labour Organization;
6. A project for rural women’s development centres, in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund, aimed at helping impoverished women.
And a number of Ministry of Social Affairs projects, which include:
1. A productive-families project aimed at increasing the income of Egyptian families and improving their quality of life, by teaching women certain occupations, agricultural skills and techniques for food production; some 56,545 families had benefited from this programme by 1990, while the figure for 1998 was 25,808;
2. Centres for training in domestic and environmental skills, aimed at modifying consumption patterns and improving quality of life, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;
3. Some 491 family-planning centres, which provide Egyptian families with information on contraception and offer fertility treatment;
4. Family guidance and advisory centres to assess and assist newly married couples, offering family guidance and resolving issues relating to family life; there were 75 such centres in 1990. By 1998, the figure had risen to 104 centres, benefiting some 7,720 families.
5. Rural-women-leaders project, aimed at creating a class of leaders who can raise awareness about health matters and help eradicate illiteracy; there were some 1,572 leaders in 1992;
6. Women’s clubs, dealing with the issue of women and work, the problems they face and possible solutions; clubs numbered around 443 in 1992 and 571 in 1998.
The State’s policies for rural development have been particularly successful in improving health coverage and women’s and children’s nutrition, increasing the number of births handled by professionals and the number of women using contraception, while reducing the rate of population growth and female illiteracy, as the following shows:
Item 1980 1992 1998
1. Fertility rate 5.28% 3.93% 3.4%
2. Contraception use 24.2% 47.1% 51.8%
3. Vaccination of children
(six diseases) 68% (1985) 84.3%
4. Professionally-assisted
births 9.4% 33.5% 55.2%
5. Decline in population - 2.4% 2.08%
growth rate (%)
6. Decline in illiteracy 62% (1986) 57.4% 51% (1996)
7. Health coverage 98% 100%
8. Vaccination of women 57% 70.1%
Article 15
1.States Parties shall accord to women equality with men before the law.
2.States Parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals.
3.States Parties agree that all contracts and all other private instruments of any kind with a legal effect which is directed as restricting the legal capacity of women shall be deemed null and void.
4.States Parties shall accord to men and women the same rights with regard to the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose their residence and domicile.
Article 40 of the Egyptian Constitution contains a general provision relating to the principle of equality, stating that all citizens are equal before the law and have the same general rights and obligations. The law does not discriminate against citizens on the basis of gender, ethnic origin, language, religious affiliation or creed. Article 11 requires the State to guarantee that men and women are treated equally in political, social, cultural and economic life. Article 50 makes it illegal to prevent a person from residing in a particular area, other than in legally sanctioned circumstances. Article 68 stipulates that all citizens have the inalienable right to go to litigation and that the law cannot exempt any administrative action or decision from legal scrutiny. Egypt’s legislation conforms to these constitutional principles. Part one, chapter III, of this report has already shown how these principles are enshrined in legislation. Details of the laws in question are found hereunder.
1. Civil competence
The provisions of Civil Law No. 131 of 1948 conform to these principles by stating that the human personality begins with birth and ends with death (art. 29), and the birth must be officially registered (art. 30). By law, every individual must have a name and surname (art. 38).
Article 44 of this Law stipulates that the age of maturity is reached on the twenty-first birthday, at which stage a person enjoys the capacity to reason and has no limitation on his or her legal capacity to enjoy his or her civil rights. Article 45 describes the circumstances in which a person does not have legal capacity, and this includes instances of feebleness of mind, insanity, or being under seven years of age. The article also describes the circumstances in which a person can be declared legally incompetent, which applies to cases of weakness or simpleness of mind. Article 47 stipulates that the provisions concerning the trustee must be applied in the case of persons who do not have, or are deprived of, their legal capacity.
Articles 48, 49 and 50 of the Law stipulate that a person cannot relinquish his or her legal capacity or modify the rules which govern it, and that no one can relinquish his or her personal liberty. It also states that each person who suffers an illegal infraction of his or her rights as a legal person has the right to put a stop to this infraction and seek compensation for any damage that has been done.
The Law also contains provisions relating to contracts and other legal transactions, as well as the administration of finances, and to other legal persons.
None of the abstract and general legal principles referred to above makes any distinction between men and women. No restrictions are placed on women’s legal capacity by virtue of marriage or ties of kinship. Thus, upon reaching their majority, women retain their legal capacity, and the right to undertake legal transactions with respect to all their property and work entitlements, and to purchase, inherit and manage their property without restriction or limitation or loss of legal capacity.
According to article 48 of this Law, any restriction on a woman’s legal capacity is void, since no one can forfeit his or her legal capacity, or amend its conditions, or relinquish individual liberty, as explained above.
2. Laws on litigation
In accordance with the Constitution, the laws relating to the right to litigation (the Codes of Civil and Commercial, the Code of Criminal Procedure and related laws) stipulate that all citizens have the right to litigation, in accordance with the rules governing capacity to seek legal redress, and the conditions for appointing legal representation in the case of absence or withdrawal of legal capacity. All the general rules apply to men and women without distinction or discrimination, and marriage does not affect these rights. Therefore, women can take part in litigation in all its forms, whether as the plaintiff or the defendant, on the same footing as men, and with the same legal rights. There are Egyptian women working in the legal profession and in juridical organizations (the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Administrative Prosecutor’s Office, the latter judicial body being currently presided over by a woman). Egyptian women are also involved in work on juvenile cases, since article 121 of the Children’s Act No. 12 of 1996 stipulates that a juvenile court shall be made up of one judge and two expert assistants, at least one of whom must be a woman.
Article 16
1.States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:
(a)The same right to enter into marriage;
(b)The same right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent;
(c)The same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution;
(d)The same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children; in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount;
(e)The same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights;
(f)The same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount;
(g)The same personal rights as husband and wife, including the right to choose a family name, a profession and an occupation;
(h)The same rights for both spouses in respect of the ownership, acquisition, management, administration, enjoyment and disposition of property, whether free of charge or for a valuable consideration.
2.The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory.
In Egypt, marriage is a contract by mutual consent, and by law it must be concluded by the free, mutual consent of both parties. Since marriage in Egypt is governed by the law on personal status, it is also subject to Shariah law, which imposes obligations on both parties with regard to the validity, conclusion, dissolution and annulment of the marriage.
The law states that the age of consent for males is 18, while that for females is 16. The marriage contract must be concluded and documented in official records, official documents must be issues indicating that the marriage has taken place, and the marital status must appear in the identity papers, in accordance with the rules for registrars and other officials authorized to perform civil marriages, and the provisions of Law No. 260 of 1960, on personal status.
According to Egyptian law, marriage does not affect a woman’s financial independence of her husband. A woman retains her first name and surname, which does not change after marriage, and she has complete liberty to manage and dispose of her finances, to conclude contracts and obtain loans, and to perform any other legal transaction, unimpaired by the fact of her marriage.
Women have the right to act as guardians of minors, and, in the case of divorce of dissolution of the marriage contract, to obtain custody of their male children up to the age of 10 and their female children up to the age of 12. They may also seek legal redress if they consider it to be in the interest of minors to extend custody of male children up to the age of 15, and of female children until they marry. The father has the right of frequent access to his children during this period and must provide for them as long as custody lasts.
Women and men share full responsibility for all matters arising from their marriage, including the maintenance and support of the family unit and decisions about the number and spacing of their children; the extent and impact of this shared responsibility differ according to the educational and cultural background of each partner. The State’s development plans focus on the eradication of female illiteracy, particularly in backward and rural areas. The State also supports the role of women in sharing with her husband in their commitment to the family and children.
State agencies are currently implementing the recommendations made at the first National Conference on Women (June 1994), by undertaking a detailed study of a standard marriage document with a view to precluding disputes over its validity and the need for legal recourse. The law concerning the procedures for litigation in personal-status cases is also being updated in an attempt to simplify those procedures and reduce the number of conditions attached to them.
In 2000, Law No. 1, regulating certain litigation procedures in matters of personal status law, was promulgated with the purpose of speeding up such procedures and reducing the conditions attached thereto. The Law makes it incumbent upon the Nasser Bank to comply with monetary awards which have been made to women, and raises the established rate of income tax in order to ensure the implementation of these provisions.
As stated previously, there are no legal impediments to the enjoyment by men and women of the right to enter into marriage with their free and full consent.
With regard to the practical difficulties, although the State has endeavoured to promote all aspects of the economic, social and cultural development of women, who constitute half of society and, in their capacity as citizens, mothers and workers, play an importance and effective role in all spheres of community life, women face a number of difficulties and problems, such as early marriage below the legal age, illiteracy and a low standard of living, which prevent them from freely expressing their frank opinion on their prospective spouse. However, such problems are largely confined to rural and remote areas of the country, and currently affect only a small percentage of women. The State is endeavouring, through its effective development plans and programmes, to eradicate illiteracy and promote greater awareness among women and young girls in remote areas with a view to overcoming and eliminating these difficulties.
Finally, as it submits the present report to the Committee in the hope that the latter will continue to pursue its lofty mission on behalf of all humanity, Egypt has the honour to affirm its readiness to fully respond to any questions or queries about the contents of this report.
APPENDIX
List No. 1
Proportion of jobs held by women in various parts of the government sector
1. Tourism: 53.3%
2. Social insurance and social affairs: 50.8%
3. Health and religious services, and the workforce: 46.6%
4. Culture and the media: 44.3%
5. Education, research and youth: 41%
6. Finance and economics: 38%
7. Management services: 31.3%
8. Trade and commerce: 27.6%
9. Electricity and energy: 25.5%
10. Industry and oil: 34.4%
11. Public administration and local councils: 23%
12. Agriculture and irrigation: 17.6%
List No. 2
Senior posts held by women in various government agencies and activities, and as a proportion of all senior posts held by women in the government sector
1. Finance and economics (371) : 26.7%
2. Culture and the media (183) : 13.2%
3. Education, research and youth (147): 10.5%
4. Management services (89): 6.4%
5. Defence, security and justice (87): 6.3%
6. Transport, communications and civil aviation (88): 6.3%
7. Housing and construction (70): 5%
8. Health and religious services, and the workforce (83): 6%
9. Electricity and energy (65): 4.7%
10. Agriculture and irrigation (53): 3.8%
11. Social insurance and social services (44): 3.2%
12. Industry and oil (37): 2.7%
13. Trade and commerce (24): 1.8%
14. Public administration and local councils (23): 1.7%