Fertility, marriage and sexuality
p. 54-55
Texte intégral
68% | At 22 years of age | 87% | 2017 |
Percentage of the population married in 2017 | 45% of women have already had a child | Percentage of circumcised women (15-49 years) | Itnein Kefaya programme ("Two kids are enough") |
Sources: CAPMAS, 2017; EHIS, 2015 |
3.5 Cartoon from Al-Ahram newspaper, 12 June 1979

"Demographic growth. It’s not our fault if medicine is better and kids don’t die any more”
3.6 Marriage in Egypt in 2017

Fertility: complex issues
1The baby boom that has occurred since 2010 has reignited a rather frantic political conversation which attempts to reconcile the need to control fertility with the socially conservative norms surrounding gender matters that give a central place to the family.
2The changes in fertility are complicated. There has been a general return to early marriage. A reassertion of masculinity in the face of fatigue, pollution and increased cost of living is one theory. Amongst educated women the rise in the total fertility rate (TFR) might be linked to difficulties in accessing the job market or to a lack professional fulfilment: within the middle classes increased fertility is facilitated by the availability of foreign nannies.
3The lack of counselling in the field of sexual and reproductive health can also be considered: in 2015, 67% of married women (15-49 years old) had never seen or heard a family planning message (EHIS 2015). The use of contraceptives remains largely a women’s issue and uptake has stagnated since the first decade of the current century at around 60% of married women (EDHS 2014). Family planning initiatives launched in 2008 were suspended under Morsi, and the relatively sluggish approach since 2013 contrasts with the policies of the 1960s. While IUDs are the commonest method of contraception, problems in the distribution of subsidised contraceptives (the pill, and morning-after pill) for reasons of political instability (2011-2013), and then monetary devaluation (2016), must also be considered. Early marriage has increased fertility: in 2017 the average number of children per mother under 18 years of age stood at 3.7 as compared to 2.7 for women who married after the age of 22.
3.7 Average age of first marriage (1976-2017)

Marriage, a major social ritual
4Within a patriarchal society where female sexuality is associated with reproduction and is controlled as part of family honour, marriage remains the norm and the pressure to bear a child as soon as possible after marriage is real.
5The legal minimum age for marriage is 18 years but some minors have a marital status (married, widowed or divorced). This is partly linked to poverty, whereby the parents receive money or goods in exchange for the bride and will have one less mouth to feed. Early marriage is also sometimes a means of avoiding pre-marital scandals. While this type of union is widespread in the rural milieu (40% of early marriages took place in Upper Egypt in 2017), the highest number of marriages involving girls aged less than 20 years occurs in the governorate of Cairo. The government has made some effort to combat under-age marriage: Law no. 126 of 2008 criminalises the validation of marriage contracts for persons under 18 years of age. The non-registration of the marriage of minors is detrimental to the rights of the minor and her children.
6In 2017 only 17% of women over 18 years old were unmarried, as opposed to 30.7% of men. This difference, due to the financial cost of providing a dowry and accommodation, extends the waiting period for the young and has contributed to discreet changes, especially in towns, in sexual behaviour that are morally condemned (pre-marital sexual activity, informal or “traditional” marriage known as urfi*). This is attested by hymenoplasty, increasingly common recreational use of Viagra, and the availability of virginity capsules imported from Asia. Such officially socially unacceptable practices coexist with female circumcision, revealing paradoxes within society.
3.8 Rates of early marriage by governorate

The incidence of female circumcision
7The prevalence of so-called female circumcision in Egypt is one of the highest in the world even though the practicing of female genital mutilation (FGM) by medical personnel has been banned since 2007 and has been illegal since 2008. Religious authorities, both Muslim and Christian, condemn the act.
8The decline in the practice is slow, and it is still supposed to purify young girls, guarantee their chastity and avoid adultery. Even among women from the wealthiest quintile, the incidence of FGM in 2015 stood at 70%. The rate, which is lower in the urban context (75 %), reached 87% in Lower Egypt and 92% in Upper Egypt. Uneducated women are more affected (98%) than those who have completed at least their secondary school studies (85%).
9Whereas the practice had previously been considered a minor offence, in 2016 the penal code was amended to criminalise it and prison sentences were stiffened (up to 15 years). In 2015 and 2016 two cases were brought before the courts for the first time. The increased medicalization of the practice and the slow change in mentality are the main obstacles to be overcome.
3.9 Female circumcision by age group in 2008 and 2015

Auteurs
Hala Bayoumi, CNRS research engineer in mathematics applied to humanities and social sciences. She has been head of the Digital Humanities Unit at Centre for Economic, Legal and Social Studies and Documentation (CEDEJ) since 2007 and was awarded the CNRS Crystal Medal in 2017
Karine Bennafla, professor of geography at Jean Moulin University of Lyon, affiliated to the research group EVS (Environnement, Ville, Société) – UMR 5600. She was director of the Centre for Economic, Legal and Social Studies and Documentation (CEDEJ) in Cairo from 2015 to 2019
Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence Licence OpenEdition Books. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
Les chemins de la décolonisation de l’empire colonial français, 1936-1956
Colloque organisé par l’IHTP les 4 et 5 octobre 1984
Charles-Robert Ageron (dir.)
1986
Premières communautés paysannes en Méditerranée occidentale
Actes du Colloque International du CNRS (Montpellier, 26-29 avril 1983)
Jean Guilaine, Jean Courtin, Jean-Louis Roudil et al. (dir.)
1987
La formation de l’Irak contemporain
Le rôle politique des ulémas chiites à la fin de la domination ottomane et au moment de la création de l’état irakien
Pierre-Jean Luizard
2002
La télévision des Trente Glorieuses
Culture et politique
Évelyne Cohen et Marie-Françoise Lévy (dir.)
2007
L’homme et sa diversité
Perspectives en enjeux de l’anthropologie biologique
Anne-Marie Guihard-Costa, Gilles Boetsch et Alain Froment (dir.)
2007