Amin Ismail Abdou of the National Research Centre in Egypt presented the abstract of his paper on the role of Egyptian women in agriculture during Wednesday’s afternoon session of the 17th International Farm Management Association Congress.

Abdou acknowledged that Egyptian women have significantly improved their standards of living over the years. While the women’s suffrage movement during the 1920s and 1930s helped women to improve their social status in the United States, it was not until later in the century that Egyptian women were able to improve their quality of life. Since the mid 1970s, the number of women in the Egyptian parliament has increased from 30 to 65. Increased amounts of women are rising to high-ranking posts that were exclusively held by men in the past. Today, women constitute nearly 43 percent of Egypt’s labor force.

While women have made much progress, Abdou noted, these advances have been limited geographically. The rural sector has not made as drastic of improvements as the urban dwellers have and are still behind in most aspects. A mere 6.7 percent of rural women are in the official labor force, a small number compared to 28 percent of women in urban areas. Illiteracy rates range between 50 and 70 percent of women in rural areas, while less than 35 percent of urban women are illiterate.

There are many differences for this variance. Religion, traditions, education levels, geographic location and ethnic influence are major factors that prevent a better standard of living. North and South Egypt are vastly different in beliefs. In the South, women are not allowed to marry outside of their family for fear that the land will fall out of the family’s name once the woman marries. Therefore, genetic mutations such as blindness and lameness are common. Abdou also points out these factors are interactive.

Women in rural Egypt represent 10 to 25 percent of total land holders. Rural women tend to have a higher amount of decision-making power. Women tend to control the financial aspects of farming operations as well. While women tend to do anywhere between 60 to 80 percent of the farm work in Africa, they tend to not be involved in the high-tech, hazardous and labor intensive jobs.

While there are many differences between rural and urban women, Abdou still believes there to be a vast amount of potential for rural Egyptian women. Much progress has been made by Egyptian women over the past half century. And with more education, the potential for more achievements is very promising.

AgWired coverage of the IFMA 17 is made possible by