27 Egyptian Constitution of 1971 gives all citizens equal chance to work regardless on
their gender. The protection upon women worker was also provided. Law 137 of 1981 allows women to work at night as long as the protection provided is enough
for them Guenena and Wassef 35. Despite the freedom to work and the protection upon them, the different treatments between men and women in working still occur.
Women’s participation on working is limited by womens responsibility of domestic tasks. The lacking of women’s education also limits their participation in working.
As the result of their lack education, most of these jobs give them low wages. Womens wages in Egypt are lower than men even though they work on the same
job Guenena and Wassef 36.
2.3.4.1.4 Egyptian Women and Politics
Another issue of the gender discrimination in Egypt is the chance of women to participate in politics. Egyptian society assumes that men have better leadership
than women. Women are created to bow under men’s power and authorization, and follow men’s leadership. The family opposition also discourages women to enter
the political arena. Most Egyptian families will not allow their daughter to enter political arena. Politics are viewed as a dirty, rough, and unsafe competition for
women. Men as the stronger species than women are more appropriate to compete on the political arena Guenena and Wassef 36-37.
2.3.4.1.5 Egyptian Women and Law
Another field in which women have not been treated equally is in the law. In some Islamic country such as Egypt, the punishment of criminality against
women such as violence still provides loopholes that fail to punish men for violence against women Sharifa Zuhur 10. The law seems to allow for violence
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28 against women. Thus, Sharifa Zuhur states that in talking about the inequality of
women in law, most feminist and women movement in Egypt are more concern of demanding the equality of women in the criminal law 11.
Egypt is an Islamic country which uses Sharia as the base of its law. In the year of 1971 President Anwar Sadat issued a new constitution which declares Islam
as the religion of Egypt and Sharia as the Egyptian law Tamir Moustafa 13. The source of Sharia is the Koran and the traditions of the Prophet. The Koran states
that male and female believers are each others walis Al-Araf 30: 21. The word walis
refers the protectors or guardians. It means that these two genders should protect or guard each other. Thus, violence against women will break harmony
between two genders which is written on the Koranic passage. In addition, the violence upon women shows discrimination against women, and proves that men
own and control women Sharifa Zuhur 42. There are many examples of violence against women. The first example is
the sexual violence including rape and sexual abuse. According to Sharia, sex is only allowed under a legal marriage. If a person is having sex before a legal
marriage, he or she will be considered as doing zina. Under Sharia, zina is strictly prohibited. The crime of zina is one of the seven serious crimes in Sharia.
Rape belongs to a sexual crime. Most of the victims of rape are women. According to Sharifa Zuhur, rape is an unlawful sexual activity of a woman by a
man but it is forced by the man, against her will, and without her consent 33. In the Sharia, if a man rapes a woman and it is proved, he has to pay fifty shekels of
silver to the woman’s father and then marries her. The man will never able to divorce the woman as long as he lives. This punishment of raping according to
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29 Sharia
becomes the punishment of raping according to the Egyptian law. Yet, to be proven that a woman is raped by a man, there must be at least four witnesses to
prove his criminality. Unfortunately, in most cases a rapist will claim that the woman had engaged in the sexual activity, and says that the woman also wants it.
The woman will not be considered as the victim of the rape. Moreover, she will be assumed as doing zina and even be punished Sharifa Zuhur 35.
Sexual abuse is also one examples of sexual crime which some women often experience. According to the Egyptian law Article 306 of the Egyptian Penal
Code if a man is proven doing a sexual abuse both verbal and physical to a woman, the person will be imprisoned for one month Shefira Zuhur 42.
The second example of violence against women is the domestic violence. Article 241 of the Egyptian Penal Code declares that a person who does a domestic
violence will be imprisoned for two years or pay a fine of 20 to 300 Egyptian pounds. However, most husbands who do the domestic violence will be only asked
to pay the fine while for wives they will be imprisoned Sharifa Zuhur 63. The difference in punishment reflects women as less important than men. For worse, the
domestic violence upon women is considered as a common thing for most of Egyptian. The 1995 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey found that majority
of women, especially for those who live in rural areas, believed that beating a wife deserved to be forgiven.
Even though the law to punish the criminality against women has made, it still fails to protect women from the violence upon them. The violence upon
women shows discrimination against women in law, and proves that men own and control women Sharifa Zuhur 42.
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2.3.4.1.6 Egyptian Women and Health
