CAIRO - With the presidential elections on the horizon, the candidates have begun revealing their manifestoes. Most of them say they're going to solve the country's economic problems, improve education, save the street children, care for the poor and develop slums. Some candidates are also trying to attract young people and gain their votes by getting closer to their problems. Abu Bakr Bayoumi, a fellow of the Swedish Academy for Scientific Research and the winner of the Best Mathematician's Prize in 2010, awarded by the Telesio Galilei Academy, is one among more than one thousand presidential hopfuls. One of his ideas sounds a little unusual; he says if he were to be elected he would establish a special ministry responsible for solving the problem of spinsterhood. He would call it the 'marriage ministry'. According to a recent study issued by the National Centre for Sociological and Criminal Research, 29.7 per cent of adult males and 28.4 per cent of adult females are unmarried. “The proposed ministry would help young people form a family, offering them suitable housing that they can afford and helping them to live a respectable life,” says Bayoumi. Spinsterhood is a real problem in a country where people usually askance at unmarried women. There are many reasons for this problem, such as male unemployment, the high cost of housing and food, increasing poverty and salaries that are getting smaller. Unemployment jumped to 12 per cent in the third quarter of 2011, up from 9 per cent in the same period of 2010, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). There has been 316,000 university graduates, 55 per cent of them female, according to the same report. Bayoumi stresses that this ministry couldn't work by itself, but would have to co-operate with four other ministries: Manpower, Social Solidarity, Trade and Industry, and Housing. The Manpower Ministry would help the 'marriage ministry' create jobs for young people, while the ministries of Social Solidarity and Trade and Industry would establish fair prices for food and the Housing Ministry would offer suitable housing. Bayoumi is convinced that his plan would put an end to the problem of spinsterhood. "We are really in bad need of such a ministry," says Iman Galal, a professor of sociology at Helwan Univeristy, who admires the idea. "This ministry could solve two huge problems – unemployment and the housing shortage. Convicts can also help, as those doing vocational training in our prisons could manufacture furniture to be sold to young couples, reducing their marriage expenses," she comments. Prof. Galal explains that there have been similar initiatives in many other countries. But none of them has a marriage ministry, as the emphasis is mainly on solving young people's problems in general. “The former regime wasn't at all interested in helping young people, which is why many of them indulged in anti-social behaviour, for example taking drugs,” she adds. Recent statistics from the Egyptian Association for Combating Drug Addiction are really very alarming. The Association says that Egypt has 6 million drug addicts, 2 million of them are girls. "In practice, it would be very difficult to establish a marriage ministry," says Abla Ibrahim, the Director of the Women and Family Department in the Arab League. "It might be better to establish a fund to support young people who can't afford to get married. Businessmen could help by offering them jobs.” Some other candidates are also concerned about this problem. Hamdeen Sabahi, a politician and one of the candidates, has announced that, if he becomes president, he too will fight spinsterhood, which he blames on unemployment. "Many young men can't get married because they can't find a job," says Mohamed Gareeb, an engineer who intends to vote for Sabahi. “They get frustrated and this can lead to rape and other sexual crimes, as well as suicide.” In 2006, the National Council for Social and Criminal Research reported that there were more than 20,000 cases of rape in Egypt every year, with most of the rapists being unemployed men. Meanwhile, Ahmed Maher, an accountant, believes that Egypt's problems can only be solved if we have a fixed minimum and the maximum wage. “I think there should also be a minimum and maximum dowry, to help young men marry,” he said. Maher also blames Egyptian families for asking too much of their daughters' suitors. “Dowries which they ask of grooms are often beyond their means,” he added. Mohamed Abu Zeid, the former Dean of the Islamic Studies Faculty and a former member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, another presidential hopeful, is also thinking along similar lines. “We need to set up a huge marriage foundation to help the young people who want to get married find jobs. We also need to teach young couples how to build a happy family,” he comments. It remains to be seen whether this idea, proposed by certain presidential candidates and others who applied for candidacy but failed, will simply remain a fantasy or whether it will actually be put into effect on the ground. Many Egyptians think that it is a good idea and hope that the next government will take it seriously.
