Egyptian cartoonist sheds light on 10 discriminatory laws against women
if you guys havenβt seen Doaa el-Adlβs work sheβs an excellent cartoonist and her new book just came out (itβs in English and Arabic! although iβm not sure how you can buy it outside Egypt) so I wanted to share some of her stuff highlighting discriminatory laws from a profile on her for international womenβs day.
Inheritance rights:Β Many women are denied their rights to inheritance due to slow litigation procedures and the complexity of judicial procedures, which often leads to the women missing out on what was supposedly βher rightβ to begin with.
Sexual Harassment in the workplace:Β Even though sexual harassment is deemed a crime according to Egyptian law, collective sexual assault crimes, anal penetration, oral rape, rape by a foreign object, as well as other forms of sexual violence remain not adequately criminalized. Womenβs rights are not protected when they are faced with such circumstances.
Adultery laws:Β The Egyptian law also discriminates between a man and a woman when the perpetrator of the crime of adultery is killed. Should the husband kill his wife when he finds her committing adultery, his sentence will be mitigated. However, if the wife kills her husband for adultery, then Article 273 of the penal code stipulates that the wife shall receive a severe sentence.
Human trafficking and adultery laws:Β There is a widespread of marriage of underage girls in impoverished villages, where young girls are married off to wealthy Arabs or foreigners for a short period of time; then they get divorced. The government has not combated this phenomenon. Rather, in 2015, the government amended the law on marriage to stipulate that if the groom is foreign and 25 years older than the bride, he must pay her EGP 50,000 at the time the marriage contract is registered.
The right to travel independently:Β This caricature shows how a girl is rebelling and fighting so hard to get out of βa manβs shadowβ, through the use of colors, and character sizes, the woman is putting in a great effort to leave the manβs grip. In Egyptian law, despite the constitutional court issuing a decree granting women the right to travel without prior permission from her father or husband, this right can be restricted by a male family member who applies for a court decision to be issued which prevents her from travelling.
Domestic workers:Β They are running after the vase and not the woman. Unfortunately, domestic workersβ rights are non-existent in Egypt. They are a huge segment of society in Egypt and no one voices their concerns and issues. They are extremely marginalized and deprived from their basic rights concerning labor, social security, and health insurance