Progress in gender equality in Egypt

Nissrin Abu Amara, Université Paris Descartes
Elena Ambrosetti, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
Stephanie Condon, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Egypt, like many countries in the world, has been witnessing over recent decades slow improvements in gender equality, in line with the evolving international political debate. In this study we are going to analyse changes in gender relations in Egypt using socio economic and demographic indicators. We will thus highlight the ways in which Egyptian society is evolving slowly towards more egalitarian behaviour and attitudes. We are going to focus on the issues of female circumcision and wife abuse, using the few quantitative studies existing on that topic for Egypt. At the same time we will analyse the role played by women associations in promoting gender equality and thereby reducing gender based violence. This socio-political process is reflected by the media (particularly independent media organs) in Egypt, as in other countries of the Middle East (Palestine, Jordan). Therefore we will analyse the social and media discourse regarding these issues.