Women between economic liberalization and social deprivation: a case study in rural Egypt

Abstract

After a century of colonial domination, followed by a period of national liberation, Egypt in the late 1970s has undergone new basic changes in its economic system. While most of the recent research on Egypt is related to the analysis of mere economic changes occurring in the period of the "open door policy", little attention has been given to the tremendous problems caused by these changes to social relations and to rural social life. This study, in analysing a specific case of a local setting in the eastern region of the Nile Delta, attempts to shed some light on the question of how changes in the 1970s and 1980s have reshaped gender relations in the Egyptian village-The study develops its specific scope alongside its concern with five basic problems of change in rural social life: The. 'traditional feminism' of peasant women might decline (1) while nevertheless non-monetarized relations in agriculture might continue to exist (2) Male migration to oil countries promotes a new process of 'feminization of agriculture'. (3) Modern Islamist images of the 'moslem sister' might lead to a general devaluation of the new spheres of women's public activities (4). The persistance then of 'magic' and popular culture might be a tool for the mastery of life for peasant women in their new marginal social positions (5).The study then draws evidence in three main domains: women's extended economic activities and labour relations - women's new extended spheres of social life, - peasant women's position towards popular culture practices.