In a recent article published by The New York Times, Hoda Gameel, age 22, describes how she wakes up at 7am and serves breakfast to her two younger brothers before walking them to school and returning home to get ready for work. She works all day selling headscarves in a mall, and at 11pm that night she takes a 90-minute bus ride, after which she eats dinner, completes her accounting studies, and eventually sleeps. For this grueling routine she earns only $100 a month. Ms. Gameel used to have a better job where she made twice as much as her current salary, but she was fired after complaining that her boss “would keep dropping things on purpose so that I would have to bend down and get them.”
Ms. Gameel’s story demonstrates the fact that in Egypt, the increase in the number of women in the workforce has not led to any change in the attitudes surrounding women’s traditional roles. In a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in association with the International Herald Tribune, 61% of those surveyed in Egypt said that women should have the ability to work outside the home. Yet, 75% answered that when jobs become scarce, men have more of a right to work than women. This is reflected in recent unemployment figured for individuals between the ages of 15 and 29. Men in this age range face 12% unemployment, while the unemployment rate for young women is 32%.
Women are also extremely underrepresented in Egypt’s public sector. Only eight of the 454 Parliamentary seats are filled by women, and none of the country’s 29 governors are female. Egypt’s general assembly attempted to ban women from applying for judgeship within the State Council, as they decided that women were too emotional for the role. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif had the decision overruled by the constitutional court, but no women judges have since been appointed to the council.
In addition, female illiteracy is very high in Egypt, with 47% of rural women and 23% of urban women incapable of reading or writing. This further limits the opportunities for women to pursue meaningful careers. The few desirable job opportunities available to women are almost always restricted to those from prosperous families.
This discouraging atmosphere has led more young women to want to stay out of the workplace. Ms. Gameel displays this regression in gender attitudes when she says, “I used to be ambitious and I had dreams. Now I just want to get married and stay at home.”
Iman Bibars, chairwomen of the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women, reflects that “yes, more women are working, but not every work is liberating.” It is unclear what path young Egyptian women will choose if attitudes and opportunities in the workplace do not improve.
For more information, see the complete article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/world/middleeast/14iht-letter.html?_r=1&ref=women
