This bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti was made before she commanded that no more images be made of her as a woman—but only as a ruler. When National Geographic caught up with Cooney by phone in Los Angeles, she explained why Hatshepsut was so perfect; how Cleopatra grew up in a family that makes the Sopranos seem like lambs; and what these women symbolize for their society—and ours. Every Ptolemy son or daughter had their own entourage, their treasuries, their own sources of power and also shared power, but within a very exclusive system of siblings. And killed each other with impunity and regularity. My favorite Ptolemaic story is Cleopatra II, who was married to her brother. They got in a massive argument and the brother was killed.
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In Egypt, women represent half of the population. However, as in many developing societies, they face a number of challenges in relation to education, healthcare and participation, which in turn has an impact on their rights awareness and limits their capacities and capabilities. Throughout history, women in Egypt have fought to take part in and contribute to public and political life. They started by claiming their right to education, which was crucial in opening the door towards all other rights. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CEDAW was ratified in , with reservation made to four articles: Article 2 regarding equality between men and women, Article 16 regarding family rights, Article 29B regarding complaints, and Article 9 regarding nationality. However, with the changes to nationality law, Egypt has lifted its reservation to Article 9. Family law has undertaken some changes over the last few decades. The changes made to the Custody Law 25 of amended by Law 4 of grants divorced mothers the right to keep the custody of their children until the age of 15, instead of 10 for a son and 12 for a daughter.
Responding to the needs of women, ‘first responders’ to Egypt’s COVID-19 crisis
A blog of the Middle East Women's Initiative. A major barrier to the goal of equitable and sustainable development is rampant unemployment among women and vulnerable groups. The female labor force participation rate in Egypt is a mere Therefore, Egyptian women represent an unexploited resource that could change the outlook of the Egyptian economy if their potential is realized. Several factors contribute to this dilemma. Certain social practices prevent Egyptian women from working in sectors such as taxi driving.
In , when the Child Helpline was first established, there were [ 2 ] reported incidents. Egypt has a multi-layered strategy to end FGM in the country, which includes improved data on the prevalence of this harmful practice and research to understand its root causes and perceptions. This began with the Egypt Demographic and Health Survey DHS in and there are plans to roll out additional prevalence studies this year. Although the DHS revealed that 92 per cent of ever-married Egyptian women aged 15—49 had undergone FGM or cutting , there has been a noticeable decline among younger women, with rates among girls aged 15—19 dropping from 97 per cent in to 70 per cent in She was only 10 years old when Amal and her sister were forced to undergo FGM. The trauma of the experience never left her. Today, Amal has a year-old daughter whom she protects fiercely. Contributing legislative changes include a law criminalizing FGM in , strengthened penalties under the Criminal Code in , and the Egyptian Cabinet just approved a bill that is now before Parliament to further increase penalties proposed by the National Committee for Eradication of FGM — to a minimum of five and a maximum of 20 years in prison for doctors or nurses who perform FGM. Awareness-raising has also been key, with community mobilization and grass-roots initiatives engaging civil society organizations, religious and opinion leaders. It also informed the public about the fatwa [legal ruling on points of Islamic law] from the Al Azhar institution and the Coptic Church that confirm that FGM is not associated with any religion and is considered sinful.
