Cultural developement: problems and solutions

Today in Egypt women seem to be in a dilema that immerse them in sadness and nostalgia.
On the one hand they have to assume the trappings of modernity; on the other hand they have to carry with the efects that goal brings to their married live...

For example, technology induces women to struggle keeping up with all the resposabilities they already have as women, and as wifes and mothers but also dealing with the challenges of quickly and uncertain cultural changes.

A very recognized art historian and literary egipcian writer, named Rasha Adli, launched recently a novel entitled "Agonizing women", where she point up this women circumstance of today. She emphasizes all dubts and insecurities that hit women because of the dilema above mentioned.
Also, Adli shows how women  feel blame because they have been since ever the center of knoted traditions which they have to mantain.

However, our art historian and writer Adli doesn´t give us a light about possible solutions. Specially because in an unexpected way she sustain the today´s egipcian women dilema is not only lived by them. Acoording to her view women from different epocs and places of the world have had to shoulder the same situation.

Even it is some how right, I would say it´s not in all ways. Certainly, women have had almost always the dilema of enduring the core of their cultural traditions, and taking innovations over, in most of the cases they have been able to do it with fortitud, optimismus and even joy.

Therefore, I would propose as a solution for that egipcian women´s sadness and nostalgia a time of reflexion, one "take it easy", and a special awareness of their capacities.




Would you like to know more about?
See: http://egypttoday.com/blog/2014/12/09/the-booklist-women-coming-undone/








In the next paragraphs we will see examples of the social and cultural situation af egyptian women. And we will have an opportunity to analize way there has been in the egypctian cultural hystoy a real problem in relation with women.
 

Images were taken from http://www.aldokkan.com/society/women.htm

I would name the problem: a descendently status of egyptian women, contrary to the world cultural development

In the ancient Egypt there was a very defined social hierarchy. At the bottom of that structure, were slaves and farmers. Slavery was thought as fate of those who were took as war prisoners.

Farmers tended the fields, raised animals, kept canals and reservoirs in good order, worked in the stone quarries, and built the royal monuments.

At the top were the gods, such as Ra, Osiris, and Isis.

Egyptians believed that the gods controlled the universe. Therefore, it was important to keep them happy.


In between and up from the bottom, we could find artisian, merchants, scribers, soldiers, government officials and finally the Pharaoh, which were believed to be one god in human form.
 ( See http://www.ushistory.org/civ/3b.asp)



Surprisingly, and unlike the position of women in most other ancient civilizations, including that of Greece, n that social structure women seems to have enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as the Egyptian man-- at least in theory. This notion is reflected in Egyptian art and historical inscriptions.

It is uncertain why these rights existed for the woman in Egypt but no where else in the ancient world.

In any case, Egyptian women have traditionally been preoccupied with household tasks and child rearing and have rarely had opportunities for contact with men outside the family.

But Egypt has some examples of women who had a special cultural and political position; Cleopatra and Nefertiti were among the few who had a major impact as rulers in Egyptian society. Cleopatra was known to have ruled with Marc Antony around 31 BC, despite her gender and other social issues; Nefertiti was the chief wife of an Egyptian pharaoh, Amenhotep IV. Nefertiti was known to be an active Egyptian woman in society, as well as her children. In addition to female Egyptian rulers, Hatshepsut had reigned in Egypt as pharaoh from about 1503 to 1480 B.C. and had based most of Egypt’s economy on commerce.

(See http://www.virtual-egypt.com/newhtml/special/women/)
 
What happens to woman in Egypt modern society?

Egyptian society is organized on the principle that men and women simply have different natures, talents, and inherent tendencies. This becomes most apparent in the realm of the family where each gender has a different part to play. Men are created for going out in the world and are responsible for providing financially for the family. Women are suited for remaining within family boundaries, caring for the home, the children, and the husband. Further, women's inherent sexuality is believed to be constantly endangering the social harmony of society (specifically, men) and is, therefore, best controlled through women's modesty and women remaining as much as possible within the private sphere of the family. This belief is reinforced through cultural and religious norms that are increasingly advocating that family roles of both women and men are fundamental in maintaining societal structure; dominant gender constructions therefore support keeping women in the home and oppose women working and abandoning their primary roles (Macleod 1991).

Nonetheless, contemporary images of women as economic assets and providers are rapidly coming into conflict with what are perceived as divinely inspired roles.

Read more: Egypt - Gender And Family - Women, Roles, Complementarity, and Society - JRank Articles http://family.jrank.org/pages/439/Egypt-Gender-Family.html#ixzz3MAUcfRum

One example of the social and cultural innovation in Egypt is the rule of Gamal Abdul Nasser (im power from1956 to1970). He was characterized by his policy of “stridently advocating women's rights through welfare-state policies, labeled as state feminism ”. Women were guaranteed the right to vote and equality of opportunity was explicitly stated in the 1956 Egyptian constitution, forbidding gender-based discrimination. Labor laws were changed to ensure women's standing in the work force and maternity leave was legally protected. At the same time, the state repressed independent feminist organizations, leaving a dearth of female political representation.

Even though, the contemporary Egypt manteins ancients traditions. For example, limiting women’s contact with men in public spaces, or practicing veiling and gender segregation at schools, work, and recreation have become common. Furthermore, lower class families, especially in Upper-Egypt, have tended to withdraw females from school as they reached puberty to minimize their interaction with males. Lower-class men frequently preferred marriage to women who had been secluded rather than to those who had worked or attended secondary school.

The economic liberalization plan of the Sadat regime (Governmental lieder from1970 to1981) would result in the collapse of this system and the resurgence of Islamist-influenced policy. While the Nasserist years allowed a wide range of study for women, Sadat's policies would narrow the opportunities available to women. Unemployment for women changed from 5.8% 1960 to 40.7% in 1986. In place of policies to economically support women during pregnancy, women were encouraged to leave work entirely or work part-time.

The Mubarak years were marked by further erosion of the role of women. For example, the parliamentary seats for women and the their personal status law were repealed in 1987, and a new law took its place giving less power for women in cases of divorce.

In 2013 gender experts said, Egypt was ranked worst for women's rights out of all the Arab states.