Home Egypt Violence against women : a social and legal concern in Egypt

Violence against women : a social and legal concern in Egypt

September 29, 2021

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This article is written by Varchaswa Dubey, from JECRC University, Jaipur. This article reflects the exhaustive work conducted regarding the violence against women in Egypt.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Violence against women is considered to be the worst type of crime the contemporary developed societies in the world can witness. Violence is not only humiliation, suffering, pain, agony, disrespect for a woman but also a violation of her human rights and legal rights. The violence against women is such a widespread practice that it is now considered a pandemic. Often practiced in low and uneducated families, violence against women is one of the most worrying issue around the world.

The Arab Republic of Egypt, a country well known for its ancient pyramids, is the very nation where the violence against women is at its peak. According to The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights, the rights of women in Egypt are not only violated by their family members and society, but also by the state, including police, whose actual purpose is to protect and serve the people. Women in Egypt are a victim of constant sexual harassment and abuse on the streets, and around 97% of the Egyptian women are a victim of female genital mutilation.

According to a report, lifetime physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in Egypt is 26% and child marriage is 17%, while the nation stands at 132 in the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index.

Origins of violence against women in Egypt

The traces of violence against women in Egypt are so old that there is no conclusive proof to establish the origins of violence against women. With changing rulers in the territory, Egypt witnessed numerous laws to tackle the problem however no laws were executed practically. In ancient Egypt, the laws and beliefs were established and sustained by the threat and execution of violence under the disguise of cruel and unusual punishments imposed.

Egypt is an Islamic country and therefore, most of the applicable laws are highly influenced by the Islamic Sharia which considers rape as a serious offense against women. During Ottoman rule, rape was a common occurrence in the lands governed by the Ottoman sultans, which for a long time included Egypt, but it was criminalized under both Sharia law and the laws of the sultanate.

In modern Egypt, Article 291 of the Egyptian Penal Code was struck down in the year 1999. The said article was ‘marrying your rapist’ law, under which, the rapist shall not be punished for rape if he marries the woman he has raped.

Post-2011 revolution, laws regarding sexual harassment were inserted by an Amendment in 2014 in Article 306(bis)(a) of the Egyptian Penal Code which states that those who are found guilty of any sexual or indecent acts or gestures of any kind at any place, including social and digital media, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than 6 months or a fine of EGP 3,000.

Violence against women

Violence committed by the State

Laws criminalizing violence against women exist in Egypt, however, the problem lies in its application, and in many cases, state agents are themselves involved in physically and sexually abusing women in Egypt, and such reasons were one of the main abettors of the 2011 revolution.

According to a report, a total of 289 cases of torture, 272 cases of death outside state authorities, 119 instances of disappearance and 63 injuries caused by careless handling of weapons by the state authorities were reported in the year 2011. Approx. 500 people died in state custody or were either killed by the security forces. Further 600+ instances of torture during detention were reported, according to another report. The gravity of the negligence of the Egyptian authorities can be determined by the awarding of a life sentence to a four-year boy.

To tackle the problem of violence against women, the New Woman Research Center and the Arab Alliance for Women, formed a coalition to eliminate the violence against women practiced by state agents, police and state security.

Domestic violence

Despite the legislations concerning domestic violence against women, the Egyptian parliament has enacted numerous laws however none of them have achieved their objective, i.e. protecting the rights of women in the country. Some factors which contribute to the violence against women are:

Some traditional practices like husbands or fathers believing that violence against women is their right.
Fear of women engaging with police to report the violence they have witnessed, because the system itself is corrupt, and associated with such practices.
Egyptian media considers domestic violence normal and acceptable, and therefore there is not much awareness about the domestic violence issue in Egypt.
Cultural barriers are another factor due to which women do not report their incidents to the administration, police, or media.

According to the Economic Cost of Gender-Based Violence Survey, more than 7.8 million women are a victim of violence in Egypt every year, and such violence is caused by their own spouse/fiance or some close relatives and other strangers in public places.

Female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation means the removal of external female genitalia, either partially or totally, and other injuries to the genital organs of the female.

According to a report, the female genital mutilation rate in Egypt remains huge, with 87.2% of all women between the age of 15-49. Egypt also has the most number of incidents of female genital mutilation, the traces of which are found even before the existence of Christianity and Islam in Egypt.

The effects of such mutilation includes excessive bleeding, genital tissue swelling, high fever, infection, urinary problems, shock, and death. Female genital mutilation is usually practiced on young girls between infancy and adolescence, and rarely on adult women. The rate of practicing female genital mutilation is so high that, more than 3 million girls are estimated to be a victim of female genital mutilation every year.

A barrier to political participation

A barrier to political participation refers to the seizure of the opportunity for women to participate in the elections for the progress of women in society. The reason such a barrier exists is the violence against women in Egypt which prevents women from accessing such opportunities. The Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt itself guarantees equality of opportunity to all Egyptians however it is not a practical approach for Egyptians.

A national strategy was initiated in June 2015, which is estimated to be implemented over a five-year plan, i.e. 2015-2020. The strategy was prepared by the National Council for Women, in association with concerned ministries, and other state and religious institutions. However, the strategy failed to suggest the amendments in the current legislation of Egypt, which should have been adopted to tackle the problem of violence against women.

Issues with the strategy

The national strategy failed to suggest the broadening of the vague definition of rape, enshrined in the Egyptian Penal Code.
Failure of having a transparent strategy and there were no sufficient suggestions to encourage the participation of women in the elections.
The policy did not reserve any specific suggestions which shall promote the participation of women in politics and eliminate violence against women.
The strategy emphasized the development of women in policing, judicial training, health care, social workers, etc, but failed to ensure the protection of women in their workplace.

Legal framework concerning rights of women in Egypt

The new Egyptian Constitution was adopted in 2014, to advance the laws in the country and for the protection of rights of citizens in the country. The Constitution of Egypt also places a responsibility on the State to execute equality among men and women in economic, social, political, civil and cultural spheres. It is significant to understand that Egypt only has only one provision in the Constitution regarding the prohibition of violence against women in the country. Article 11 of the 2014 Egyptian Constitution is the only article concerned with the rights of women in the country.

Necessary measures must be taken to establish representation of women in the Parliament of Egypt, which will provide women with the right to hold public high designated posts in the country. The state must also ensure the protection of women against all types of violence and must ensure that women’s empowerment to be compatible with the duties of a woman towards her family and her work. The state must ensure care and protection of the mother and her child, the breadwinning women, and old women.

The Constitution of Egypt also reserves the right to equality before the law, and equal protection of rights and duties, and that the people of Egypt shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of religion, belief, sex, origin, race, color, language, disability, social class, political or geographical affiliation, or any other reason. Yet women continue to be a victim of violence constantly.

Egypt has also ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which aims at the development of a country, and the welfare of the universe, and that peace requires the maximum participation of women equally as compared to men in all fields. Egypt has also signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court however the statute was not ratified by Egypt. Despite numerous international conventions, Egypt has failed to eliminate the cases of violence against women in the state.

Criminal laws

Sexual Assault: Egyptian Penal Code in its Law No. 58 of the Year 1937 gives protection to women by Article 267 which reserves the right of women against rape and provides for a penalty of three to seven years’ hard labour for the rape of a person, male or female, whether by use or force or intimidation and where the victim is under 16 or the offender is the victim’s ascendant, guardian or supervisor or works in the victim’s home, the penalty is the legal maximum. Where both of these conditions are met, the penalty is life imprisonment with hard labour.
Domestic violence: There is no law or legal provision against domestic violence of women in Egypt. Therefore, women face a violation of rights in Egypt.
Adultery: The laws concerning adultery in Egypt are discriminatory since they impose imprisonment for up to 2 years on women and only imprisonment up to 6 months on men.
Human trafficking: Law no. 64 of 2010 is the central legislation concerning human trafficking in Egypt yet the concerned authority is not able to tackle the problem of human trafficking in the country.
Honour killing: Article 237 of Egypt’s Penal Code only places a husband under detention who kills his wife committing adultery. The article states that whoever catches his wife in the act of committing adultery and if such person kills the wife and the person with whom she was committing adultery, on the spot, then such person shall be punished with detention instead of imposing punitive measures.
Short-term marriages to tourists: The concept of short-term brides refers to the concept where a foreign tourist, usually from a nearby country marries a young girl from a village by the consent of her parents, and such tourist pays a certain amount of money in return. These ‘marriages’ are treated as customary or Urfi marriages and last for a few weeks in return for financial compensation.

Impact of violence against women

Violence against women has very serious mental and physical effects on women who suffer such violence and those who witness such violence, except the person causing such violence. Women who are a victim of violence face issues like inability to perform regular work and due to serious injuries caused by the violence, a woman can’t earn a living for herself if such violence has disabled any important part of her body, i.e. hands, legs, etc.

The children of such victims of violence are also very likely to be affected by such violence directly or indirectly. The direct consequences are future generations inheriting the same disorder as the mother, and other physical, mental diseases and mental trauma, if such a child witnesses any violence and may also practice such violence in future considering it very normal.

Other than undergoing pain, agony, sufferings, etc, sexual assault victims are likely to undergo lifelong mental trauma which may cause temporary or permanent problems to such females. The sexual assault victims are also very likely to have sexually transmitted diseases and if such sexual assault is caused during her pregnancy, then such assault may also affect the child either physically or mentally or the child may even die in the womb of the mother.

Conclusion

To tackle the problem of gender discrimination and violation of rights of women in Egypt, efforts to promote gender equality and tackle violence against women should be practiced by the government of Egypt. The Egyptian government must, on an urgent basis, analyze the laws which are discriminatory and arbitrary. Further, the government must also revise the national strategy on combating violence against women. Also, Egypt’s government must enact separate legislation to protect the rights of women in their country, however, the nation is itself involved in the violation of the rights of its female citizens by practicing discriminatory laws.

The situation in Egypt concerning the protection of rights of women is very disturbing, especially in the times where human rights are given more importance over other rights. The circumstances in Egypt concerning the rights of women are very low and arbitrary, however discriminatory and vague laws are still practiced in Egypt. The discriminatory laws can only be struck down with the interference of the United Nations and other international human rights advocates.

References

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