Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:23:09.083Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Economic and Political Liberation in Egypt and the Demise of State Feminism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Mervat F. Hatem
Mervat F. Hatem
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Howard University, Washington, D. C.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the late 1950s and the 1960s, an Egyptian welfare state was developed to provide the economic basis of a new social contract between the Nasser regime and its key class allies. Its main beneficiaries were the men and women of both the middle class and the labor aristocracy, who were to staff and run its expanding state sector. For Egyptian women, who were scorned by the pre-1952 states, the new welfare state offered explicit commitment to public equality for women. It contributed to the development of state feminism as a legal, economic, and ideological strategy to introduce changes to Egyptian society and its gender relations. In its own turn, state feminism contributed to the political legitimacy of Gamal Abdel Nasser's regime and its progressive credentials.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , May 1992 , pp. 231 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Harriet, Holter, “Women's Research and Social Theory,” in Harriet, Holter, ed., Patriarchy in a Welfare Society (London: Global Books Resources Ltd., 1984), pp. 18–24;Google ScholarHelga, Maria Hernes, Welfare State and Woman Power, Essays in State Feminism (Oslo: Norwegian University Press, 1987), chap. 2.Google Scholar

2 Jumhūriyyat, Miṣr, al-Dustūr: 1956 (Cairo: 1956), pp.8, 31;Google Scholaral-Jumhūriyya, alʿArabiyya al-Muttaḥhida, al-Dustūr: 1964 (Cairo: Maṣlaḥat al-ʿIāhāt, 1964), pp. 3, 7.Google Scholar

3 Al-Jihūz, al-Markazi li-al-Ṭaʿba al-ʿāmma wa-al-Iḥṣā⊇, Al-marʿa al-miṣriyya fi ʿishrin ʿām (1952–1972) (Cairo: Markaz al-Abḥāth wa-al-Dirāsāt al-Sukkāniyya, 1972), p. 77.Google Scholar

4 Mervat, Hatem, The Demise of Egyptian State Feminism and the Politics of Transition (1980–1991). Working Paper no. 3 (Fall 1991) (Los Angeles: G. E. Von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA).Google Scholar

5 Ahmed, Abdalla, The Student Movement and National Politics in Egypt (London: al-Saqi Books, 1985), p. 191.Google Scholar

6 Ibid.

7 Hanna Papanek and Barbara Ibrahim, “Economic Participation of Egyptian Women: Implications for Labor Force Creation and Industrial Policy” (unpublished report to USAID, 1982), p. 52.

8 Al-Ahrām (7–20 07 1977).Google Scholar

9 Zaynab, Raḍwān, Baḥth zāhirat al-hijāb bayn al-jamʿyya (Cairo: al-Markaz al-Qawmi li-al-Buḥūth al-Ijtimāʿiyya wa-al-Jināʿiyya, 1982), pp. 15–16, 99, 101.Google Scholar

10 Widad, Murqus, Sukkān miṢsr (Cairo: Markaz al-Buūth al ʿArabiyya, 1988), p. 45.Google Scholar

11 Inji, Rushdi, “Mādhā qaddama al-mujtamaʿ li-al-mara,⊇” al-Ahram (8 02 1984), 7.Google Scholar

12 Aḥmad, Naṣr al-Din, “Hal taʿūd a1-marʿa āamila il al-bayt?”, al-Ahrām (30 08 1982), 3.Google Scholar

13 Radwan, , Baḥth pp. 44, 42, 40, 37. These are my calculations using the data Radwan reports but does not analyze.Google Scholar

14 Ibid., pp. 81, 138.

15 Ibid..

16 Ibid. p. 86.

17 Ibid., p. 138; Theodora, Lurie, “Feminists are Dismayed as Egyptian College Girls Turn to Orthodox Islam,” Globe and Mail, 13 (13 12 1979), T6.Google Scholar

18 Karam, Gabr, “ʿurūḍ axyā al-muḥajjabāat ḥarām!” Rōz al-Yūsuf (16 12 1985), 58–60.Google Scholar

19 Judith, Gran, “Impact of the World Market on Egyptian Women,” Merip Reports (06 1977), 6.Google Scholar

20 Ibid.; Safia, Mohsen, “New Images, Old Reflections: Working Middle Class Women in Egypt,” in Elizabeth, Fernea, ed., Women and Family in the Middle East (Austin: Texas University Press, 1985), p. 58.Google Scholar

21 Conversation with Mona, Fayiz in 01 1984.Google Scholar

22 Mohsen, , “New Images ‖, p. 58.Google Scholar

23 Eral, Sullivan, Women in Egyptian Public Life (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1986), p. 144.Google Scholar

24 Malak, Zaalouk, “The Impact of Male Labor Migration on the Structure of the Family and the Women Left Behind in the City of Cairo” (paper presented to the First International Conference on Arab and African Women, Cairo on 25–28 02 1985), p. 13.Google Scholar

25 ʿAbbās, Mabrūk, “20% min ṭalabāt al-jāmi ʿāt mudminū mukhaddirāī,” al-Ahrām ( 6 01 1988), 12;Google Scholaridem, , “Al-adman wa-maʿsat al-usra al-miṣriyya: Part 2,” al-Ahrām (13 12 1988), 12;Google Scholaridem, , “Al-adman wa ma⊇sat al-usra al-miṣriyya: Part 2,” al-Ahrām (13 12 1988), 12;Google Scholaridem., “Al-adman wa maʿsāt al-usra al-miṣiyya: Part 5,” al-Ahrām (3 01 1989), 12; ʿAzzat, al-Sa ʿdāni, “Muthallath al-shayṭlān,” al-Ahrām (22 04 1989), 3.Google Scholar

26 Mervat, Hatem, “Egypt's Middle Class in Crisis: the Sexual Division of Labor,” Middle East Journal, 42,3 (Summer, 1988), 420–21.Google Scholar

27 Papanek, and Ibrahim, , “Economic Participation of Egyptian Women,” p. 52.Google Scholar

28 Ibid., p. 63.

29 Ibid., p. 64.

30 Ibid., pp. 50, 57–58, 64–65.

31 Ibid., p. 59.

32 Zaynab, Sadiq, “Al-Ḥlarb al-khafiyya Ḣalā alā-nisā” Ṣabāḥ, al-Khayr (2 04 1987), p. 27.Google Scholar

33 Ḥamdī ʿAbd al-ʿziz, “Amal al-miʿriyyin bi-al-khārij mushkila waʿawdatuhum ayḍan‖. Mushkila,” Rōz al-Yūsuf (26 01 1987), 15.Google Scholar

34 Nahla, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīm, “Tanāquḍdāt ḥayātunā: Ustādhat al-ʿmiʿa walʿmila,” ḥawwā (20 12 1986), 20–21;Google ScholarʿAmal, Mabrūk, “Al-marʿa wa-al-ʿamal al-ḥurr,” Ḥawwā (3 01 1987), 55–58.Google Scholar

35 Zaalouk, , “The Impact of Male Labor Migration,” pp. 10–11, 13.Google Scholar

36 Zeinab, Shahin, “The Effect of Labor Migration on Women,” (unpublished paper, 1985), p. 6.Google Scholar

37 Zaalouk, , “The Impact of Male Labor Migration,” p. 18.Google Scholar

38 Elizabeth, Taylor, “Egyptian Migration and Peasant Wives,” Merip Reports 14,5 (06, 1984), 8;Google ScholarFatma, Khafagy, “One Village in Egypt,” Merip Reports 14,5 (06, 1984), 18.Google Scholar

39 Taylor, , “Egyptian Migration,” 9.Google Scholar

40 Ibid.; Khafagy, , “One Village,” 18–19.Google Scholar

41 Taylor, , “Egyptian Migration,” 9;Google ScholarKhafagy, , “One Village,” 19–20.Google Scholar

42 Ibid.

43 Taylor, , “Egyptian Migration,” 10.Google Scholar

44 Soheir, Sukkary-Stolba, “Roles of Women in Egypt's Newly Reclaimed Lands,” Anthropological Quarterly 58, 4 (10, 1985), 182, 188.Google Scholar

45 Ibid., 185–86.

46 Mona, Abaza, “The Changing Image of Women in Rural Egypt,” Cairo Papers in Social Science 10, 3 (Fall, 1987), 66, 77.Google Scholar

47 Ibid. 54–55.

48 Ibid., 82.

49 Ibid., 56–57.

50 Mudhakkirat Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Salām al-Zayyat (Cairo: Kitāb al-Ahāli, 1989), pp. 243–44.Google Scholar

5I Ibid.

52 Aḥmad, Tāhā Muhammad, Al-mar'a al-misriyya (Cairo: Maṭbaʿat Dar al-Taʿif, 1979), p. 75.Google Scholar

53 Muḥammad, Farghāli Faraj, “Taṭwwur mushärakāt al-mar⊇ al-miṣiyya fi al-ṭayah al-ʿāmma,” Taghayyur al-waḍ al-ʿ al-ijtimāi li-al-mar⊇a fi miṭsr al-muʿasira (Cairo: al-Markaz al-Qawmī li-al Buḥūth al-Ijtimāiyya wa-al-Jināiyya, 1974), p. 207.Google Scholar

54 Wizārat, al-Taʿlim alʿAli, Al-marʿfi misr (Cairo: Al-MaṬ Maṭbaʿa al-ʿālamiyya, 1975), p. 71.Google Scholar

55 Ibid., p. 17.

56 Jehan, Sadat. A Woman of Egypt (New York: Simon and Schuster. 1987), pp. 353, 356–57.Google Scholar

57 Ibid., p. 363.

58 Ibid. p. 360.

59 Ibid., pp. 358–59.

60 Ibid. p. 360.

61 Ibid. pp. 360–61.

62 Abde, Monem Said Aly, “Democratization in Egypt,” American-Arab Affairs 22 (Fall, 1987), 16.Google Scholar

63 Akram, Khater, “Egypt's Feminism,” Middle East Magazine (02, 1987), 18.Google Scholar

64 Sullivan, Women in Egyptian Public Life, p. 76.Google Scholar

65 Aly, , Democratization, p. 17.Google Scholar

66 Al-Ahrām (21 04 1984), 14; al-Ahrām (26 04 1984), 2.Google Scholar

68 Amany, Kamal el-Din, Enid, Hill, and Sarah, Graham-Brown, “After Jihan's Law: A New Battle over Women's Rights,” Middle East Magazine (06, 1985), 17.Google Scholar

69 Ibid.

70 A1-Ahrām (1 07 1985), 1.Google Scholar

71 Al-Ahrām (2 07 1985), 6.Google Scholar

72 A1-Ahrām (1 01 1988), 11.Google Scholar

73 Nadia, Amine, “Women out of Power,” Middle East Magazine (06, 1987), 35.Google Scholar

74 Zakaria, Abu Haram, “Fazat al-dimngratiya wa khasarat al-muʿradha” (Democracy won and the opposition lost), Akher Sa⊇a (12 12 1990), 6;Google ScholarIbid., “Al-muʿyanum al-inadud” (The new appointees), 8.

75 Lurie, , “Feminists are Dismayed,” 16.Google Scholar

76 Gilles, Kepel, The Prophet and the Pharoah (London: al-Saqi Books, 1985), p. 143.Google Scholar

77 Eric, Rouleau, “Who Killed Sadat?,” Merip Reports 12, 2 (02, 1982), 5.Google Scholar

78 Aliaʿa, Redah Rafee, “The Student's Islamic Movement: A Study of the Veil (the Hijab)” (Masters thesis, the American University in Cairo, 1983), p. 99.Google Scholar

79 Ibid.

80 Valerie, J. Hoffman, “Interview with Zaynab al-Ghazali,” in Elizabeth, Femea, ed., Women and the Family in the Middle East (Austin: Texas University Press, 1985), pp. 234–35, 237–38.Google Scholar

81 Zaynab, al-Ghazzāli, Ayyaām min ḥayāiī (Cairo: Dār al-Sharq, 1986), pp. 23–24.Google Scholar

82 Ibn, al-Hashimi, Al-dāʿya zaynab al-ghazzālī: Maṭirat jihād wa-ḥ-ḥadith al-dhikrayāt (Cairo: Dār al-lʿtiṭām, 1989), pp. 55–56.Google Scholar

83 Aḥmad, Hāshimi al-Sharif, “Mushkilat nawāl al-saʿdāwi,” Sabāh al-Khayr (25 01 1990), p. 12.Google Scholar

84 “Li-mādhā tasʿad al-mar⊇a bi-al-ḥubb wa tashqā bi-al-zawāj” Nūn 1 (05, 1989), 6–8; “Ariḥ al-amuma wa-lā arid al-rajul,” Nūn 1 (05, 1989), 9;Google ScholarMunā, Hilmi, “Masʿbi al-thalāth,” Nūn 3 (11, 1989), 54–55.Google Scholar

85 Ubūdiyyat al-jamāl al-maḍnūa,” Nūn 1 (05 1989), 16;Google Scholar Salwā Bakr, “Baya, Shaqrā,” Ibid., 17; ʿAzza, Abū Shāma, “Al-mōḍda walaʿbat al-wahm,” Nun 2 (08, 1989), 18–19;Google Scholar Munā Hilmi, “Kayfa tazʿcharin al tajāʿid, Ibid., 39.

86 Sharīf, Hitāta, “Al-ḥijāb wa-al-khitan fi al-islam,” Nūn 1 (05, 1989), 22–23;Google Scholar Muḥammad Nūr al-Dīn Arāyā, “Hijāb al-marʿa kashf al-rajul,” Ibid., 42–43; Nawāl alʿadāwi, “Raf ʿ al-ʿijāab ʿan al-marʿ a,” Nūn 3 (11, 1989), 4–5.Google Scholar