The United Nations describes International Women's Day celebrated on 8 March of every year as a commemoration of "the story of ordinary women as makers of history". Al-Ahram Weekly takes the occasion to reflect on the progress made in the battle to emancipate woman kind Balance sheet Reem Leila reviews a year's harvest in women's rights With both International Women's Day and the fifth anniversary of the National Council for Women (NCW) this week, it seems proper to take stock of the successes and setbacks that have beset the struggle for women's rights. And in this context the recent People's Assembly move, ratified two weeks ago, to amend the custody law -- extending the period of time a child spends in its mother's custody and giving children the right to determine their guardian of choice -- constitutes the most recent triumph. Article 20 of Law 25, passed in 1929, had stipulated that a son should remain with his mother until the age of 10 (or 15 by court verdict), at which point custody is automatically transferred to the father; a daughter stayed in the custody of her mother until age 12 (or, again by court verdict, until she was married). The amendment allows children of both sexes to stay in the custody of their mothers until age 15. According to Zeinab Radwan, the MP who initiated moves to amend Article 20, "Children have a right to both maternal love and a proper upbringing, which are equally important. The new law extends the period of time a child remains in its mother's custody because it recognises that the needs of children have changed. Today it is inappropriate to separate a child from its mother at the age of 10 or 12. At 15 a child is more grown up, they have completed their elementary education." Rather than automatically transferring custody to the father, besides, the judge will ask children their preference and decide accordingly. Custody notwithstanding, divorce procedures have become the focus of the battle for emancipation. This is no wonder considering the results of research conducted by the sociology department of the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation And Statistics (CAPMAS), which found that 6.5 per cent of married couples are divorced annually; in 62 per cent of these cases divorce was the husband's decision, divorces initiated by wives making up 32 per cent of the total number; in only six per cent of the cases did both parties agree on the decision. Interesting too that 52 per cent of divorces took place among the 20-25 age group, with 41 per cent and 6.2 per cent in the 40-45 and 26-29 groups, respectively. Over all, the study indicates that divorce rates have risen by 30 per cent, and by no less than 50 per cent among newly married couples. It is in this light that the approval of Law 10 of 2004 by the People's Assembly -- the decisive step in establishing the so called family courts -- comes as a life raft. Family courts have as their primary mandate the protection of family welfare regardless of the case being heard. Intended to facilitate the harmonious resolution of disputes, court hearings are attended by a sociologist and a psychologist. Family courts deal with a range of issues from divorce to custody, from alimony to domestic violence; and their principal virtue, specialisation notwithstanding, is that they save time; other courts pay little attention to family disputes, with the result that a case is frequently postponed and may be transferred from one court to another. "The family court is now hearing over 90,000 divorce cases and 15,000 cases of khul'," Osama Ataweya, head of Judicial Inspection Authority, supplies. Yet he believes the courts' ability to expedite procedure has yet to be felt: "The hearing of all cases has been delayed, all personal status cases were postponed for two months for administrative reasons. But we expect an improvement in a year's time when things have settled down." According to Law 11 of 2004 the court will include an alimony fund "to quickly provide women and children with much needed alimony" until the money is collected from husbands. According to Maged El-Sherbini, lawyer and member of the Shura Council, if the husband is a government employee, 50 per cent of his salary will be deducted towards alimony, if he works in the private sector or has his own business, a special department at the court is charged with following up to ensure payments are made. "If the husband insists on not paying alimony, according to the recent amendment of the law, he will be subject to immediate imprisonment. How effective these measures will be remains unclear. It is noteworthy, however, that family courts are presided over by the first woman judge in Egyptian history, Tahani El-Gebali. Aside from legalities, it is perhaps in the realm of political participation that discrimination against women has been most obvious, with the popular belief that politics is a purely male domain remaining strong even among the well educated. In this context it is often argued that inequality in gender relations among siblings and the unequal division of labour within the household limit women's potential for developing the decision-making skills necessary for effective participation in public forums. According to Mona Zulfiqar, member of the legislative committee of NCW, "in spite of their constitutional equality in terms of political rights, women continue to abstain from voting and refrain from participating as candidates" in, for example, the People's Assembly elections. Constituting over 35 per cent of eligible voters in Egypt, Zulfiqar goes on to point out, women are nonetheless "discouraged from seeking a political post by discriminatory attitudes and practices, family and child care responsibilities and the high cost of a seat in any of the legislative authorities". To promote female political participation, the government passed a law in 1979 reserving 30 seats in the People's Assembly, as well as 10-20 per cent of all local council seats, for women. This increased woman's representation in the People's Assembly and local councils to nine and 11.2 per cent, respectively. Yet in 1984 the law was annulled -- on the grounds that it violates the constitutional rule of gender equality. An abrupt decline in the number of parliamentary seats occupied by women followed. Today, women occupy no more than 2.3 per cent of People's Assembly seats, taking up 4.7 and one per cent of the seats in the Shura Council and the local councils, respectively. "Proponents of female political participation are now calling for the change of the current electoral law to encourage women to run," Zulfiqar added. "The quota system or election by list is the best way to enhance female participation in the political life." A third aspect of the women's rights struggle relates to education and health, both of which sectors, while still reflecting gender gaps, evidence an overall improvement in the lot of women. World Bank (WB) statistics for 2004, for example, indicate that the enrolment and retention of girls at all levels of education has improved. Female literacy has increased from 16.6 per cent in 1970 to 55 per cent in 2004. The average number of years of schooling spent by women went up from 0.5 per cent in 1960 to 5.2 in 2004. According to Hoda Rashad, head of the NCW Education and Scientific Research Committee, however, in higher education women continue to specialise in traditionally female disciplines. In 2003-04, for example, only 41 per cent of the graduates of medicine and science faculties were female, compared to 59 and 80 per cent in fine art and languages, respectively. "This consistent pattern explains why the female contribution to science, technology, research and development is limited," she says. According to Safaa El-Baz, member of NCW Health Committee and head of Population National Council, many female births go unregistered, which implies that many women will not know their date of birth, their existence likely to remain unrecognised by the government for many years. Health statistics also point to high maternal mortality rates, relatively high fertility rates, malnutrition and lack of access to medical care. Many are married at an early age -- in many instances below the minimum legal age of 16. According to the latest Demographic Health survey (2002), 14 per cent of women are married before the age of 16. Yet female life expectancy has improved from 59.4 in 1980 to 70.1 in 2002. General health conditions are improving but have yet to reach a satisfactory level. Egypt lags behind the rest of the Middle East and the world in terms of the economic participation of women. "It is considerably lower than expected considering their constitutional rights," Rashad explains. Although female participation in Egypt's labour force has grown from seven per cent in 1988 to 35 per cent in 2002, she goes on, actual rates remain among the lowest in the Middle East: "The primary factor hindering female participation in the labour market is simply that employers still prefer to hire men. And that is not to mention the difficulties women face in the private sector, where such benefits as maternity leave are not properly provided. When all is said and done, El-Baz concludes, "empowering women and providing opportunities for their full integration into all aspects of society is not just an issue of justice; it is vital to creating a climate favourable to sustainable development."
