EGYPT

1. EGYPT Gender Inequality in the Egyptian Education System Patricia Bryan, Lauren Puleo, and Jacqueline Porter

2. Gender Inequality: What It Is • Gender inequality • Unequal representation of women • They have unequal value and consequentially should be treated differently • The United Nations • Regards gender equality as a human right • Empowering women is also an indispensable tool for advancing development and reducing poverty

3. Gender Inequality: Why It’s Bad • Discrimination • Been proven to slow down development resulting at a higher cost to the government • Unequal distribution of human development = experience high inequality between women and men • Countries with high gender inequality = experience unequal distribution of human development

4. Some Manifestations: Suffrage (voting rights) Unequal payment for work (economic discrimination) Reproductive health inequities Gender-based violence 70% of those living on less than $1 a day, are females Lack of compulsory education for girls Cultural practices Female circumcision

5. What happens as a result of gender inequality within the educational system of any given country?

6. Politics Women cannot develop political campaigns Lack of female participation Female rights are not bound to continue or grow Inclusion of female opinion has proven to promote cultures of peace and tolerance Uneducated female voters=manipulated votes by corrupt candidates=corrupt government

7. Health Spread of HIV/AIDS is common in uneducated females. An educated mother means a controlled birth rate, lower prenatal death rates, and better health indicators for all. What if the cure to cancer lied in the cultivation of a girl’s imagination, creativity, and intelligence?

8. Economics High illiteracy rates leads to an indifference to environmental contamination on behalf of the female population. This is a costly fix for the government and a possible threat to profitable natural resources. Absence of adequate services enabling women to carry out their multiple roles as housewives and child caretakers influence negatively their chances at work and concludes in a reduction of GDP in the long-run. “This role of women is the real stimulus for pushing the wheel of economic, social, and scientific progress forward to bringing Egypt into the 21st century as a hub of economic development for the MENA region.”

9. Application to Class Material • Higher education = higher income • Less income less women educated • Weigh direct vs. opportunity cost • Child labor vs. child education

10. The Ideal Egyptian Education • Very costly for private lessons/ tutoring • Poor insufficient facilities/ needed to be updated • Children sit on floor • Goal: • 1. Kindergarten (optional) • 2. Basic education • 3. Secondary education • 4. They do have some state funded universities

11. Some Basic Statistics of Education in Egypt • Overall literacy rate: 72% • Males: 80.3% • Females: 63.5% • 85% of female head of households in rural Egyptian villages are illiterate. • 65% of master’s and doctoral students in Egypt are women despite the belief that girls have no place in school

12. Education Child labor High numbers of non-enrollment and drop-outs Parents aren’t required to obtain their daughters’ birth certificates=invisible girl phenomenon

13. Recent Issue in Egyptian News Article in The Majallafrom April 6th, 2014 Female law student at Cairo University was “subjected to verbal abuse by dozens of male students, some of whom appeared to grab at her clothes.” The student was forced to hide in a bathroom until she could be escorted off campus by security personnel. The head of the university blamed her for wearing “inappropriate clothing”, which had consisted of black trousers and a pink sweater.

14. Recent Issue in Egyptian News According to the same article, issues of gender inequality are often dealt with by assigning blame to a particular individual or situation. Often this blame is placed on the woman for her behavior or her clothing choices. The blame is also placed on the economic hardships that men have to face that can sometimes cloud their judgment. This issue is never addressed as an issue in which society’s perspectives on gender inequality in general need to change.

15. The Role of Women in Egypt “It’s related to various factors in Egyptian culture, among them is the preference of families to send their boys to school. They want the girls to stay at home, especially young girls, to stay at home with their mothers.” – Nagla Al-Adly “Here, in the villages, we women grow up to marry and have children. That is our role in life. Anything else is a luxury.” – Nesma from Fayyoum

16. Most MENA countries tend to be making strides towards improving gender inequality in schools, but this isn’t translating to political and economic rights.

17. Obstacles To Gender Inequality “For many, the appearance of women is intricately linked to the nature of a country; a veiled women is a signal of the state’s moral and religious character, such as in Saudi Arabia and Iran.” – Elizabeth IskanderMonier

18. What is being done now • U.S. AID • Provides career development and internships for girls in the agricultural sector • Reduces poverty through activities that address gender inequalities and increases girls’ participation rates in schools • Works with many Egyptian organizations to reduce social, culture, and cost barriers to education. • UNICEF • Have taken many steps towards improving the education system as a whole, but have also tried to help disadvantaged girls gain access to a quality education. • Egypt’s National Council for Women • Social development fund that gives money to establish their own businesses. • A form of microfinance

19. Moving Forward Egypt is currently in a post-revolutionary stage where the role of women is going to be vital for economic development. Creating gender equality in the educational system will empower women and is a huge step towards supporting economic development. The new constitution put in place in January 2014 promises gender equality, but we have yet to see how this will be put into action.

20. Solutions • Women’s rights movement/ revolutions • Gender is not given/ it is socially determined • Eliminating gender bias • Closing gender gap is economically desirable • Education higher…leads to higher productivity… lower fertility (end cycle of poverty)

21. Think About It! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C44BOxKhwsQ

22. Sources http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2012/11/06/egpyt-scores-low-in-gender-equality/ http://www.usaid.gov/egypt/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment http://www.majalla.com/eng/2014/04/article55249397 http://blogs.worldbank.org/arabvoices/alert-arab-world-women-bottom-global-workforce-participation http://middleeastvoices.voanews.com/2012/04/viewpoint-gender-equality-still-distant-dream-for-egypt-women-59380/ http://www-db.in.tum.de/teaching/ws1112/hsufg/Egypt/Egypt/EducationSystem.html https://4b681e13-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/researchmethodsfeps/classroom-news/referencesforeducationandunemployment/E%26U-A.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7coYgCYEl3zrSPt5o7XgrpP3UuyCtkuf_Ro6TaSyrYYaxHWmDrm2SefTxYePdOynDL9aIuqNi9TmCsRCLVQ5suuwtuLxSybidwjI6io-89ddFFh1R4nW9ZIqo7UoT4S6-UDmXxqE-bVuI9KLlEsEiHNziolAg8gVyzkJprk1tbdAkbABEdOBOvwpsULVKf0Pse8J4IBpsSoQww8UxTO9MNLYXPfYDqDN5jhLgw6kVCBuSNDl3RiXSYS1EHTCDFdr1YZJ-rRKywIa1YojvSqkKShDljE7yaAHfm9TKiFvBWMuLJe5_4c%3D&attredirects=0 http://egyptianstreets.com/2013/12/15/a-to-z-reasons-why-egypts-education-system-is-lacking/ http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/151/82499/Egypt/Features/Egypts-public-school-system-Failing-all-tests.aspx http://www.unicef.org/egypt/education.html http://middleeastvoices.voanews.com/2012/04/viewpoint-gender-equality-still-distant-dream-for-egypt-women-59380/ http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2012/11/06/egpyt-scores-low-in-gender-equality/ http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/responses/EGYPT-English.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X02000060 http://www.david-guembel.de/uploads/media/Ausarbeitung_Seminar_Wirtschaftsgeschichte_Gender_Inequality.pdf http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/gii http://www.ippf.org/our-work/what-we-do/gender/what-gender-equality http://www-db.in.tum.de/teaching/ws1112/hsufg/Egypt/Egypt/EducationSystem.htmlhttp://www.egyptindependent.com/news/egypt-s-school-system-taking-look-schools-their-curricula-and-accreditationhttp://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/151/82499/Egypt/Features/Egypts-public-school-system-Failing-all-tests.aspx