Egypt

The past few decades have seen significant changes for women's reproductive health in Egypt, due in large part to a recent government program to improve women's and children's health. Still, marriage and motherhood remain key components of the identity of Egyptian women.

In Egyptian Arabic, girls (bint) become known as women (sitt) only when they have sex following their marriage ceremony; unmarried women are known as “girls” their whole lives. The Arabic phrase umm-il ghayyib, mother of the missing one, refers to infertile women.

The family is a basic part of Egyptian life. Mothers often nurse their children for at least two years and depend upon mothers or mothers-in-law for childcare. Children usually live at home until their marriages, even when they are well into adulthood. Egyptian parents traditionally have a strong preference for boys.

Egypt is primarily Muslim (90 percent) with some Coptic Christians, while the government is officially secular. Unlike its Persian Gulf neighbors, Egypt is a poor country, with poverty rates above those in sub-Saharan Africa but below much of the Middle East.

The fertility rate is 2.9 percent, while the adolescent fertility rate (the annual number of live births born to women aged 15–19 years of age per 1,000 women in the same age group) for 2005–10 is estimated to be 39. The infant mortality rate (the number of children dying before 1 year of age per 1,000 live births) is estimated to be 29 in 2005–10. In 2000, the maternal mortality rate was 84 out 100,000 live births, a marked decrease from 174 in 1992–93. The improvement in maternal health is linked to an increase in the use of hospitals and clinics (from 6 percent in 1976 to 49 percent in 1998) and increased training of health care workers, following the government's media campaign. In 2005, 59 percent of married or partnered women used contraception, 57 percent of which United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines as modern methods. Women in Egypt are entitled to 90 days of maternity leave at full wages, paid for by their employer or social security. Upper Egypt (in the south) lags behind the rest of the country in all areas.

UNESCO has estimated that 61 percent of Egyptian women are literate, compared to 84 percent of men, and that 94 percent of girls were enrolled in primary school in 2007, a marked increase from 2002, when only 78 percent were enrolled.

In 1995, 97 percent of Egyptian women had experienced female genital cutting, with higher rates in rural areas, though this is in decline throughout the country following a fatwah from Muslim religious authorities and after being outlawed by the government. Famous mothers from Egypt include Jochebed, the Hebrew mother of Moses, and Ther-muthis, his adoptive mother from the Egyptian royal family (Pharaoh's daughter in the Christian Old Testament and Jewish Torah; Pharoah's wife in the Qu'ran); Isis, the mother goddess, mother of Horus; and Cleopatra. Notably for Christians, biblical tradition holds that Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt with Jesus following his birth.

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