Results of the field study: the opinions of the general public

Knowledge of the law The field study of the opinions of the general public examined the extent of awareness among respondents of the new law and its various provisions during the People’s Assembly debates and in the press.

Among the respondents, an overall proportion of 45 per cent knew of the existence of the law (Table 1.27), of which 21 per cent were females and 24 per cent males. However, being aware that there is a new law does not necessarily imply a detailed knowledge of its contents; among the respondents, 22.5 per cent of males and only 12.5 per cent of females knew of the most significant provisions of the new law. It should be noted that there was a high rate of illiteracy among the female respondents, which meant that they did not have the opportunity to follow the law in the press; nor did their television viewing include what discussion programmes there were about the law. Their main source of information about the law was thus personal interaction, news they might hear from other women in the market or at the water tap. Men have greater scope for wider social

interaction, including, for example, watching television news in the coffee houses, or reading the newspapers.

Of the respondents who knew of the law, 37.5 per cent of males and 22.5 per cent of females had a general awareness of it, while 32 per cent of males and 65 per cent of females did not know the law existed. The highest proportion of knowledge of the law was in Cairo, where 60 per cent of male respondents knew of the law - 26.7 per cent knowing the most significant provisions and 33.3 per cent having a general awareness of it. Besides this, educational level had a decisive impact (Table 1.28) with 88.2 per cent of respondents with degrees and 28.8 per cent of those with secondary education having knowledge of the most significant articles of the law.

Opinion of the khul' provision Table 1.29 shows that a majority of 48.5 per cent of respondents in the general public opinion survey disapproved of the khul' provision in the new law, with a minority of 40.5 per cent approving. There was

Table 1.28 Knowledge of the new law by educational level (% of total)

Higher education

a noticeable male-female difference: fifty-two men (26 per cent of the total number of respondents, and 31.3 per cent of the total number of males in the sample) opposed the law, more than twice the number of males who approved (twenty-five males, 12.5 per cent of all respondents, and 31.3 per cent of male respondents). Among the female respondents, however, fifty-six women approved of the khuΓ provision (28 per cent of all respondents, and 46.7 per cent of the total number of female respondents).

Table 1.29 Opinion of the khul' position, by urban/rural residence (% of total)

Divorce from 'urfi marriage The results of the held study indicate (Table i.30) that a high percentage of males in the sample opposed this article in the new law - a proportion of 28.5 per cent of the total number of respondents - with a proportion of only 8 per cent of the total sample being males approving it. Among women, the proportions were inverted, with female respondents agree­ing reaching 30 per cent of the total sample and women disapproving representing 24 per cent.

Table 1.30 Divorce from 'urfi marriage (% of total)

Witnessing and documentation requirements in talaq Here again the field survey showed a significant difference in the positions of women and men (see Table 1.31); males agreeing with the new law in this regard made up 17.5 per cent of the sample, those disagreeing 21.5 per cent, while females agreeing with the new position constituted 54.5 per cent of the sample and those disagreeing only 3.5 per cent.

Table 1.31 Documented and witnessed divorce (% of total)

Wife's right to travel There was almost a consensus in the sample against the idea that a wife had the right to travel without her husband’s permission; only 2 per cent of female respondents held for this right, all of them from urban areas and with higher education (see Table 1.32).

Imprisonment of husbands refusing to pay maintenance A male-female difference emerged again on the idea that husbands might be imprisoned for refusing to pay maintenance (see Table 1.33); a very small number of male respondents (ι per cent of the sample) agreed, while women agreeing with this position comprised 50 per cent of the sample. During the course of the interviews, many women expressed the view that without a severe penalty, no man could be obliged to pay his maintenance dues to his children or his former wife, and some held that even harsher penalties should be used to this purpose.

Table 1.33 Imprisonment of a husband refusing to pay maintenance (^o∕o of total)

New marriage contract document Respondents were asked their view of the new marriage contract document and the special stipulations that they would insert in the document if given the opportunity.

For the female respondents, possible stipulations were ranked as follows in order of importance:

1. delegated power of talaq (al-'ismd)

2. the wife’s right to work outside the house — that is, that the husband could not prevent her from working after marriage

3. the right to complete her education

4. the right to travel abroad for a legitimate reason

5. the right to divorce if her husband married another woman

6. that in the event of divorce the wife would be entitled to keep the matrimonial home and furniture

7. an independent dwelling

8. no physical or verbal violence

9. that there should be no interference in family affairs by the husband’s mother or siblings

The choice of stipulations by female respondents differed according to their educational level and also according to whether they lived in urban or rural areas. For example, urban women stressed the importance of the stipulation on the right to work, to which none of the rural women referred. Rural women are of course already a significant factor in the agricultural workforce and associated labour such as the rearing of livestock and birds and the preparation of products for consumption by the family or for sale in the market. In the towns, however, the strict position being taken by the sons of the urban middle classes against women’s work makes a stipulation on the right to work a priority for daughters of the same classes about to marry. It was this group of respondents also (urban middle-class women) who most cited the stipulation against the use of insults or physical punishment, which rural women did not bring up; this may be because physical punishment in rural areas takes on a legitimacy based on family and tribal relationships; the acceptance or refusal of certain forms of such punishment comes back to the wife’s family and the expectations with which she has been brought up. It was similar with regard to the stipulation regarding an independent dwelling, although some of the female respondents from rural areas did refer to this. The fact that the extended family remains very much a fact in the Egyptian countryside makes the idea of an independent dwelling not acceptable, par­ticularly as ownership is shared between members of the family and work on the home is carried out as a collective effort by its various members. In town, however, the wife’s matrimonial home tends to be with her husband’s family, opening the door to family fights and constant clashes, particularly between the wife and her husband’s mother or sisters.

As for husbands, surprisingly enough, very few of them found stipulations they wanted to mention, perhaps because of not being used to the idea and not having thought about it. Stipulations mentioned by male respondents were thus limited to providing that the wife should look after the house, or should not go out to work without the husband’s permission, or particular aspects of these such as that she should look after the children or clean the house.