Danielle Plesser
SOC202
October 17, 2008, 4:50 PM
Though my current event article was published only yesterday, it explores laws that have been passed in Egypt over the past eight years dealing with divorce rights for women. There have been many strides towards improvement, and as of 2000 women are now allowed, for instance, to file for a no-fault divorce (this is the first time this has occurred in the Arab region, according to the article). However, these laws are not sufficient, the article argues, pointing out that social change is slower in coming than legal changes. The example given is that lawyers often claim that mediation (a compulsory thing prior to litigation after the law was passed introducing family courts) is ‘a waste of time’. This way of thinking means that even those who actually know about the laws are not taking them seriously yet.
Honestly, I usually say that the US has an exaggerated image of the suppression of women’s rights in other parts of the world. But this story had a few pieces of information that really shocked me, such as the fact that it took a law in 2000/2004 for women to be allowed to travel internationally without written permission from their husbands. I’m glad that the article does list this as a change that’s happened, but the point of the article is how the laws are not enough to change the situations women face in Egypt. When even the judges don’t feel that the law is worth enforcing, of course it’s unlikely that these laws are being explained to women, and most likely they’re not helping much of anyone. I hope these changes will eventually settle in and lead to improvements in the lives of women in Egypt.
http://www.afrika.no/Detailed/17286.html
1 comment:
I just have to say that knowing a little about areas of Northern and Upper Africa, I am surprised that equal divorce rights for women in Egypt are not there.
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