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Women in Egypt: new roles and realities.


 This is an extensive background presentation on the recent changes in Egyptian society, followed by results of a survey of attitudes toward family planning and the role of women. There have been remarkable social changes in Egypt recently, accompanied by rapid growth of the densely packed population. Virtually all of Egypt's 50 million people live on the banks of the Nile, 12 million of them in Cairo. Family planning has been government policy since 1981; the IUD and the pill are commonly used; but sterilization and abortion are illegal except for certain medical indications. Family subsidies and many public services have been eliminated, and even the lower classes are feeling the pinch of high cost of living, to the extent of desiring to balance their family size with their income. The survey was conducted by 35 students of the American University in Cairo, targeting middle and upper class adults, middle and upper class students, and lower class workers and domestics. The subjects were selected to be known to the interviewers to increase reliability of the data. This design created bias in the results, a preponderance of urban, student, single, childless and upper class subjects relative to the general population. The most common trend in the survey results was a conservatism among men, the lower class or less educated, or the rural lower classes. For example most women wanted 2 children, while those with traditional views valued male children and questioned the rights of women to be educated, to work outside the home, and to use contraception. The survey found that few people knew much about Egypt's Personal Status Law of 1979, which specifies women's rights regarding divorce, alimony, child support, and male polygamy. Women faced with divorce, however, rapidly learn their rights. This study revealed a consensus toward egalitarian values, along with distinct discord between the classes and sexes, and conflict between modern development and traditional roles for women.
