STUDY ON GENDER AND SOCIO- CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN EGYPT Japan International Cooperation Agency JICA TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................. IV LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................................. V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................................... VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... VII EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................... VIII 1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................1 1.1 BACKGROUND ...........................................................................................................1 1.2 STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT ....................................................................................2 2 METHODOLOGY AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .................................................4 2.1 OBJECTIVES AND STUDY COMPONENTS......................................................................4 2.2 SAMPLING FRAME .....................................................................................................4 2.3 FIELD WORK IMPLEMENTATION...................................................................................6 2.4 CONCEPT AND FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS OF FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS AND IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS........................................................................................7 3 OVERVIEW OF WOMEN’S STATUS IN EGYPT ..........................................................10 3.1 THE LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK........................................................10 3.2 WOMEN’S PUBLIC REPRESENTATION AND POWER .....................................................13 3.3 WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE LABOR FORCE AND ACCESS TO RESOURCES ...........15 3.4 SELECTED GENDER-RELEVANT INDICATORS .............................................................18 3.4.1 Women’s Health.............................................................................................18 3.4.2 Girls’ Education..............................................................................................20 3.4.3 Female-Headed Households and Poverty......................................................21 3.5 SOCIALIZATION AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER ROLES ....................................23 4 RESULTS OF THE STRUCTURED SURVEY...............................................................26 4.1 PROFILE OF THE SAMPLE .........................................................................................26 4.2 GENDER AND THE FAMILY........................................................................................29 4.2.1 Age and Kinship Relations Among Spouses ..................................................29 4.2.2 Opinions on Criteria and Circumstances to Choose Marriage Partners..........33 4.2.3 Number of Children........................................................................................37 4.2.4 Conflicts and Disputes among Men and Women............................................39 4.3 EDUCATION AND SOCIALIZATION...............................................................................42 4.3.1 Schooling and Vocational Training.................................................................42 4.3.2 Opinions on Children’s and Girls’ Education ..................................................44 4.3.3 Agents of Socialization...................................................................................45 4.4 ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND REPRODUCTIVE LABOR...................................................46 4.4.1 Work and Employment...................................................................................46 4.4.2 Reproductive Labor........................................................................................47 4.4.3 Opinions on Women’s Paid Labor..................................................................49 4.5 INCOME AND ASSETS...............................................................................................51 4.5.1 Sources and Control of Income......................................................................51 4.5.2 Inheritance.....................................................................................................52 4.5.3 Access to Real Estate and Other Valuables...................................................53 Draft Final Report Gender and Socio-Cultural Diversity in Egypt II 4.5.4 Housing Conditions........................................................................................53 4.6 GENDER AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE ...........................................................................54 4.6.1 Participation in Public and Community Life ....................................................54 4.6.2 Opinions on Selected Problems that are Subject to Public Discussion...........55 5 RESULTS OF THE QUALITATIVE STUDY..................................................................58 5.1 OPINIONS ON CRITICAL GENDER ISSUES...................................................................58 5.1.1 Gender Roles and Decision-Making in the Family..........................................58 5.1.2 Women’s Paid Labor......................................................................................59 5.1.3 Women’s Education .......................................................................................61 5.1.4 Women’s Freedom of Movement ...................................................................62 5.1.5 Violence.........................................................................................................63 5.1.6 Reproductive Health ......................................................................................65 5.2 SUMMARY ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF SELECTED ASPECTS...........................67 5.2.1 Men and women ............................................................................................67 5.2.2 Young, unmarried males and females............................................................68 5.2.3 Shared foundations among men and women .................................................70 5.2.4 Regional and class differences ......................................................................71 5.2.5 Tribal society..................................................................................................71 5.2.6 Muslims and Christians..................................................................................72 5.3 EXCURSUS: PATRIARCHY AND THE INFLUENCE OF MODERN ISLAMIST DISCOURSE ON PARTICIPANTS’ GENDER PERCEPTIONS.............................................73 5.3.1 Gender identities: who is he and who is she? ................................................73 5.3.2 Islamists and the equation of gender, sex and nature ....................................74 5.3.3 The sexualization of women’s bodies and social existence ............................75 5.3.4 The fragmentation and re-arrangement of religious texts ...............................76 5.3.5 Making use of multiple discourses .................................................................77 5.4 RESULTS OF IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS .........................................................................77 6 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................81 6.1 CULTURAL NORMS AND GENDER RELATIONS..............................................................81 6.2 GENDER PRACTICES IN THE LIGHT OF CHANGING SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS .........82 6.3 TENSIONS BETWEEN NORMS AND PRACTICE ..............................................................83 6.4 COPING MECHANISMS AND THE RE-NEGOTIATION OF GENDER RELATIONS ...................84 ANNEXES: Annex 1: Basic information on selected gender projects Annex 2: Structured questionnaire Annex 3: Framework of analysis for the structured survey Annex 4: Guidelines for the focus group discussions & individual interview sheet Annex 5: Concept for the qualitative study and instructions for the implementation of focus groups Annex 6: Guidelines for in-depth interviews Annex 7: Field Operation Manual Annex 8: Field survey timetable Draft Final Report Gender and Socio-Cultural Diversity in Egypt III LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO SEX AND RELIGION..........................26 TABLE 2: DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO SEX, REGION AND RELIGION............27 TABLE 3: DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO SEX, CLASS AND AREAS..................27 TABLE 4: DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO SEX, CLASS, AREA AND RELIGION....28 TABLE 5: DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO POSITION IN THE FAMILY..................28 TABLE 6: DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO AGE ...............................................28 TABLE 7: DISTRIBUTION OF MALE/FEMALE HOUSEHOLD HEADS ACCORDING TO AREA ................29 TABLE 8: AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE ACCORDING TO CLASS/AREA IN URBAN GOVERNORATES......31 TABLE 9: OPINIONS ON BEST AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE FOR FEMALES ACCORDING TO AREA ......31 TABLE 10: OPINIONS ON BEST AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE FOR MALES ACCORDING TO AREA ........32 TABLE 11: OPINIONS ON BEST AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE FOR FEMALES ACCORDING TO AGE ......32 TABLE 12: OPINIONS