Abstract/Summary

Gender inequality can be attributed to a myriad of causes. This research sought to unpack the gender disparity in Egypt, which ranks 129th on the Gender Equality Index (El Feki, et al, 2017). This research examines a specific aspect of inequality observed in Egypt: women as second-class citizens. Accordingly, this research sets out to understand how the patriarchal system in Egypt prevented women from realising their strategic gender interests, and by extension perpetuating their second-class citizenship. This research also unpacks how the patriarchal system in Egypt exploited and manipulated women, which served to maintain male domination and preserve the status quo. Conceptually, this research makes use of Sylvia Walby’s Six Structures of Patriarchy in the Egyptian context to gain a better understanding of how the patriarchal system created a ‘system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women’ (Walby, 1990:20). To do this, secondary data was critically approached to re-examine feminist activism from the perspective of movements to attain and realise women's strategic gender interests. The research recognised the essential role of Islam in cultural understandings, thus the research systematically investigated the role of religion and religious interpretation in solidifying women’s subordination. This recognition was significant as personal status laws in Egypt, which are meant to protect women’s rights, must adhere to the rules of Sharia Islam, making it most relevant to the investigation of how women’s subordination was institutionalised. The research also collected primary data, using the Hijab as a pre-identified measure to sensitively interview 100 ordinary citizens (women N=51, men N=49), who were randomly selected and volunteered their time, from five different locations in Egypt, and examine how women navigate the patriarchal bargain which is universal throughout Egypt. The data triangulation served to confirm a positive relationship between women’s strategic gender interests and citizenship status, by highlighting that the findings of the secondary sources, such as legal texts and written documents, are consistent with the collected primary testimonies from ordinary citizens. Findings suggest that if women are prevented from realising their strategic gender interests, they lack the agency to challenge their citizenship exclusion. Further, if women attained strategic gender interests, then they would have the agency and right to full citizenship status and benefits. The reason women are denied strategic gender interests in Egypt is because of the institutionalisation of the dehumanisation of women, which reproduces women’s social inferiority. Simultaneously, the Sunni interpretation of Islam served to legitimise women’s less than human status and rationalise their secondary status, evidence of which can be seen in both cultural understandings and the legal framework. Secondary data revealed that these processes were established by the patriarchal system to maintain the patriarchal bargain where women must exchange their agency and autonomy for safety from male violence and financial security. In other words, the patriarchal system set up the bargain in a way where non-compliance with the concrete rules is socially and institutionally sanctioned, forcing women into a position where they internalise their inferiority and reproduce their subordination. The data suggests that the Hijab is strategically used by women in urban and rural areas of Egypt to navigate the patriarchal bargain, however, the results did not apply to indigenous women. The differences between patriarchal manifestations in urban/rural communities and the indigenous community are attributed to the numerous differences, including the Sufi interpretation of Islam espoused in the Siwian indigenous culture. The significance and purpose of this research is to update and advance the study of Egyptian women’s citizenship status and demonstrate the strategies Egyptian women used to navigate the patriarchal bargains constraining the actualisation and realisation of their strategic gender interests. The findings of this study contribute to existing knowledge and produce new empirical data about the patriarchal structures and bargains present in Egypt today, and how Egyptian women navigate these structures to challenge their social inferiority and second-class citizenship status.