Dahlia Tawhid Roque - Negotiating Marriage, Family and Work: Experiences of Middle Class Egyptian Women

Caught between two worlds of social transition and modern progression, young women in the Middle East have for some time been forging means to balance conventional gender roles and marriage expectations, while also advancing their position in society through improved legal status, health and educational attainment. Yet, with half of Egypts university-educated women out of the labour market and not seeking work, this study reveals why middle-class women continue to pursue a degree that they fail to use. This book sheds light onto the lives of highly educated middle-class Egyptian women, where they share their stories of spouse selection and marriage, and how education, wealth and unyielding gender roles influence their employment status. Through qualitative ethnography, Negotiating Marriage, Family and Work gives voice to young Egyptian women, both married and single, presenting their self-perceptions, their roles as mothers and wives, and their agency. Carried out from the time of the Arab Spring, this research uncovers the key strategies that middle-class women employ to secure their economic well-being in their marital and domestic contexts, as well as the barriers that married women face in combining paid work and family care.

Dahlia Tawhid Roque holds a PhD in Gender Studies from Monash University, Australia, and an MA in Middle East Studies from The American University in Cairo. Her research activities relate to employment, development and gender in the Middle East and North Africa, and she advises intergovernmental organisations on programme and policy development supporting women and youth employment.

Routledge Research in Gender and Society

Gender and Migration

Intersectional Prospects

Gender and Precarious Research Careers

Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking in Women

Israels Blood Money

Mexican American Women, Dress and Gender

Pachucas, Chicanas, Cholas

Trauma, Womens Mental Health, and Social Justice

Pitfalls and Possibilities

Wellness in Whiteness

Biomedicalisation and the Promotion of Whiteness and Youth among Women

Contemporary Muslim Girlhoods in India

A Study of Social Justice, Identity and Agency in Assam

White Masculinity in Contemporary Australia

The Good Ol Aussie Bloke

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/sociology/series/SE0271

First published 2020

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

2020 Dahlia Tawhid Roque

The right of Dahlia Tawhid Roque to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Names: Roque, Dahlia Tawhid, author.

Title: Negotiating marriage, family and work : experiences of middle class Egyptian women / Dahlia Tawhid Roque.

Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019016500 (print) | LCCN 2019018203 (ebook) | ISBN 9781315183244 (Ebook) | ISBN 9781138740778 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Middle class womenEgyptSocial conditions. | Sex roleEgypt. | WomenEmploymentEgypt. | Married womenEgypt. | Work and familyEgypt.

Classification: LCC HQ1793 (ebook) | LCC HQ1793 .R67 2020 (print) | DDC 305.40962dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019016500

ISBN: 978-1-138-74077-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-18324-4 (ebk)

Egypt throughout the Middle East is affectionately referred to as Om el donia [mother of the world], and undertaking this research has been a wonderful journey into the heart of that world. Completing this book would never have been possible if it were not for the people who helped and supported me along the way.

My deepest gratitude is extended to my doctoral supervisor, Dr. JaneMaree Maher. I truly could not have asked for a more wonderful supervisor. I am very appreciative of her inspiration, guidance and many enlightening discussions that led me to new ideas and greater understandings of my findings. Dr. Jo Lindsay from the Monash School of Social Sciences has also been instrumental in this research as my secondary supervisor through her advice, comments and encouragement. I am incredibly grateful to Dr. Ghada Barsoum and Dr. Moushira Elgeziri for their invaluable and very thorough feedback and suggestions on the manuscript. Special thanks goes to Dr. Valentine Moghadam who read my thesis and gave me words of encouragement to turn this research into a book. I would also like to thank Dr. Hanan Kholoussy for the discussions and early direction in this research. A big thank you is extended to Dr. Martina Rieker and the Cynthia Nelson Institute for Gender and Womens Studies where I was a visiting scholar at the American University in Cairo during my first round of fieldwork. I am very appreciative for the Australian Postgraduate Award that I received during 2011 from the Monash Research Graduate School that made it financially possible for me to carry out this research in Egypt. I would like to thank my Routledge editors for their incredible patience and support with this manuscript. I am also grateful for the constructive comments provided by the anonymous reviewers that helped me shape this book.

I will forever be indebted to Hind and Dina Hegazy the warmest and most supportive people I have ever met. I cannot thank you and your family enough for opening your home to me in Alexandria and your great assistance in encouraging women to participate in my research. Hind, you are truly an inspirational friend whose courage and ability to balance between your career, research pursuits and family I will forever admire. My greatest appreciation is also extended to Amal Sadek and her family for welcoming me into their home in Cairo as well as their community, which further informed my research. A heartfelt thank you to my aunt Tayseer for the endless conversations on marriage and the rising cost of living in Egypt. I also thank my cousin Shereen and her family for their generosity and hosting me in their home while I carried out my fieldwork.