Honour, gender and power imbalances: Evidence from Egypt

The MENA region has been, and still is, stirring international debate in regards to the deplorable situations of women it exhibits. Going from numerous rape and sexual assault experiences, to intimate partner violence and female circumcision, the region faces serious cases of violence against women, which creates high concern amongst women’s rights activists worldwide. The case of Egypt, more specifically, has been highly scrutinized, as it envelops many levels of abuse, at the top of which lays the phenomenon of honour crimes, precisely that of honour-based femicides.

“34-year-old doctor pushed off the balcony for having a male visitor^[1]The New Arab. (2021, March 14). Outrage after Egyptian woman pushed off balcony for having male visitor. The New Arab. Retrieved from … Continue reading”, “22-year-old woman killed by her brother and uncle for getting pregnant outside of marriage^[2]Al Sherbini, R. (2021, August 14). Egypt: Woman murdered in ‘honour killing’ by family. Mena – Gulf News. Retrieved from … Continue reading”, “woman killed refusing to marry a blood relative^[3]Scoop Team. (2015, August 30). Crimes of honor: When gender inequality takes it as far as losing lives. Scoop Empire. Retrieved from … Continue reading” … numerous are the cases where Egyptian women have been murdered by close male family members in the name of honour, many of which were husbands, fathers or brothers.

Contrary to popular belief, and even with an apparently significant rise in women’s portrayal within Egyptian societies, be it professionally or systematically, honour killings are not isolated incidents, and are instead part of a greater phenomenon, characterized by the centrality of honour in patriarchal dominance^[4]Lasson, K. (2008). Bloodstains on a Code of Honor: The Murderous Marginalization of Women in the Islamic World. Women’s Rts. L. Rep., 30, 407..

Patriarchal honour systems: honour killings as a result of gendered systems of oppression

It is undeniable that honour holds an intense grip on patriarchal societies in general, but its impact is especially prevalent within Mediterranean communities, wherein the penalty for any sort of deviation from societal norms of chastity have persisted the most^[5]Abu-Odeh, L. (2004). Crimes of honor and the construction of gender in Arab societies. Women and sexuality in Muslim societies.. Crimes based on honour are specific to, and deeply rooted in Mediterranean histories and customs, as family constitutes the very source of societal standing, and is easily the most important social institution^[6]Serhan, R. B. (1998). Honour without women: honor and the legitimization of murder in the criminal courts of Lebanon. Unpublished MA thesis, Dept of Sociology and Anthropology, University of … Continue reading. That taken into account, honour becomes a license for social participation and it is through its holding that individuals – specifically men – are to find a place within their community^[7]Sen, P. (2005) Crimes of honour, value and meaning. In: Welchman L, Hossain S (eds) ‘Honour’: Crimes, Paradigms, and Violence Against Women. London: Zed Book, 47–63..

The rules of honour, as conceptualized by Siham Abdul Salam^[8]Abdul Salam, S. (2005) Crimes of honour in Egypt. In: Welchman L, Hossain S (eds) ‘Honour’: Crimes, Paradigms, and Violence Against Women. London: Zed Book, 137–142., can be summarized as a measurement of men’s honour, on the basis of their female relatives’ sexual conduct and behaviour. The concept can be traced back to traditional norms and customs still persistent in the face of modernity. It is the traditional perception of femininity – claiming an inherent virtue to the female nature – that leads to the widespread and unrightfully accepted tendency for men to take it upon themselves to restore their honour and status. Within male-dominated societies, as early as the age of puberty, women become the sole bearers of their families’ honour, and the primary culprits for any tarnishing of their reputation. The violence becomes a means of control and subjugation^[9] Jaber, M. A. (2010). Murder with Impunity: The Construction of Arab Masculinities and Honor Crimes. Al-Raida Journal, 38-45., and that is achieved mainly by bringing about a generalized and inevitable sense of insecurity and instability that women are to supposedly be faced with as soon as they step foot outside of the family context, the effect of which is to keep them bound to their homes, exploited and suppressed by their male relatives^[10]Mathu, A. (Ed.). (2008). Gender and development in India: The Indian scenario. Delhi: KalpazPublications.

When it comes to the Egyptian context, beyond the general reasons behind honour killings, meaning patriarchal honour systems, there are a few explanations for the intensity of the occurrence in Egypt. In fact, the Egyptian legal system is argued to be fundamentally contradictory, as it partially guarantees women’s rights publicly while highly restricting them privately^[11]Khafagy, F. (2005, May). Honour killing in Egypt. In an expert group meeting organised by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (pp. 17-20).. The legal frameworks implemented remain arguably in favour of the man in any given situation, as it requires the wife’s complete obedience, while granting an unfair number of liberties to the man, going from the right to polygamy, to that of divorce with no apparent reason. Women are thus seen as wives, mothers, and daughters, rather than individuals, hence the close monitoring of their sexualities. The primacy of honour is portrayed in all aspects of Egyptian culture, and its tight intertwinement with religious thought further enhances its imprinting in Egyptian societies.

Religious roots of honour culture: the centrality of female chastity

Religious beliefs, as different as they can get, all have the traditional commonality of expectations put on women’s sexualities. And while the vast majority of literature on honour killings focuses on religion as an orientalist approach^[12]Heydari, A., Teymoori, A., & Trappes, R. (2021). Honor killing as a dark side of modernity: Prevalence, common discourses, and a critical view. Social Science Information, 60(1), 86-106., its role in the perpetuation of systems of oppression fuelled by family honour and shame is nonetheless highly prominent. Indeed, Muslim communities place the notion of honour at the center of the ideal of masculinity, and it is through the policing and monitoring of women’s sexual behaviour that said ideal can be reached^[13]Coomaraswamy, R. (2005). Violence against women and ‘crimes of honour.’ In L. Welchman & S. Hossain  (Eds.), ‘Honour’: Crimes, paradigms and violence against women (pp. xi-xiv). New … Continue reading. By punishing what is seen as “dishonourable”, crimes of honour seek to reinforce “honourable” behaviour, primarily values of chastity, monogamy, obedience to men, and fertility. Islam just so happens to promote the very same values^[14]Vitoshka, D. Y. (2010). The modern face of honor killing: Factors, legal issues, and policy recommendations. Berkeley undergraduate journal, 22(2)., pushing forward an omnipresent sense of responsibility amongst male believers to restore Allah’s will.

Traditional expectations of chastity and virginity remain the most prominent factor as far as “masculine honour” is concerned. Honour-based societies remain strongly attached to the illusions of female virginity, through intact hymens and blood on the sheets. In Egypt the very honourability of a woman lies between her legs^[15]Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. (2002). Femicide and the Palestinian justice system: Seeds of change in the context of state building? Law & Society Review 36(3), 577-606, making of the hymen a socio-physical symbol of respectability and virtue. The hymen gets transposed from its biological context^[16]Baker, C. (2009). Expressions of the body: Representations in African text and image. Bern: InternationalAcademic Publishers., onto the social and political space, with the female body as an arena upon which occurs gendered political discourse. Virginity tests, as degrading as they are, are conducted regularly in Egypt, and not earlier than July 2022, Naira Achraf, murdered for spurning a colleague’s advances, had had a test conducted on her dead body^[17]ElDostor News. (2022, July 11).. Not only is it irrelevant to the case, but it also strips her from her dignity, as she was grossly scrutinised after her death. Being highly reliant on Islamic thought, Egyptian laws are unfortunately not intervening, and both virginity tests and hymen reconstruction operations are overall socially acceptable^[18]Farouk, M. A. (2021, December 6). In Egypt, women seek low-cost ways to ‘prove’ virginity. news.trust.org. Retrieved from https://news.trust.org/item/20211206101034-h2kv1/.

It remains, however, important to take into account the undeniable inconsistencies between religious texts and the practice of honour killing, as it completely disregards the many values within the religion itself that prevent or even forbid the violence of honour killing. In this same sense, although Islam is undoubtedly a part of the answer when looking for an explanation for the ubiquity of the phenomenon in Egypt – as it reinforces patriarchal systems – it remains insufficient.

Dual aspect of Egyptian honour: from religious thought to deep cultural norms

A violence-prone society, such as the Egyptian one, wherein violence against women goes unchecked and overlooked, constitutes an environment fertile enough for the proliferation of male resistance to the rapidly changing gender norms within the community^[19]Nasser et al, ‘Violence against women in Jordan’, p. 7. Traditional patriarchy and honour systems are under threat with the spreading of “secular” values and overall sexually liberated thoughts amongst Egyptian women. Feminist activism is seen as the very destabiliser of societal structures between the private and the public spheres, leading to significant waves of private violence as a response^[20]Abu-Odeh, L. (2004). Crimes of honor and the construction of gender in Arab societies. Women and sexuality in Muslim societies.. The problem resides within Egyptian culture in itself, as there exists a strong “culture conflict”, as thought by Sellin^[21]Sellin, T. (1938). Culture conflict and crime: A report of the subcommittee on delinquency of the committee on personality and culture. New York, NY: Social Science Research Council.. People act in accordance with the meaning certain norms and conducts have for them^[22]Vold, G. B., & Bernard, T. J. (1986). Theoretical criminology (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press., and since a great sense of honour is generalized amongst Egyptian men and families, one naturally follows the pre-established trend^[23]Doğan, R. (2014). The Dynamics of Honor Killings and the Perpetrators’ Experiences. Homicide Studies, 20(1), 53–79. doi:10.1177/1088767914563389, leading to an ever-lasting circle of violence and a duality between religious belief and cultural norms.

Honour crimes and the State: an unsatisfactory response

All previously exposed layers of the phenomenon of honour crimes, from patriarchal honour systems, to religious thought and cultural norms, have culminated in a national response to the problem that is deemed highly insufficient. Political frameworks have been implemented and national strategies have been introduced to combat violence against women^[24]Report on Violence against Women in Egypt. EuroMed Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://euromedrights.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/12/EMHRN-Factsheet-VAW-Egypt-EN-2016.pdf, but the efforts failed to address the obstacle that is article 237^[25]Egypt: Penal Code [Egypt], No. 58 of 1937,  August 1937, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3f827fc44.html [accessed 5 August 2022]Article 237 of Egypt’s Penal Code No. 58 allows for … Continue reading of the penal code. The state has not pursued any initiative to actively challenge the pervasiveness of honour-culture, but is rather guarding and enforcing it^[26]Baron, B. (2006). Women, Honour, and the State: Evidence from Egypt. Middle Eastern Studies, 42(1), 1–20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4284428. CEWLA^[27]Center For Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance has called the government to condemn honour killings and to publicly label them as a violation of human rights^[28]Welchman, L., & Hossain, S. (Eds.). (2005). ‘Honour’: Crimes, Paradigms, and Violence Against Women. Zed Books., and Egyptian activists are constantly working to bring about significant change. But as for now, no actual development has been noticed on that matter.

All in all, the issue that is honour killing remains an important part of Egyptian women’s day-to-day life. With the generalized patriarchal structure of gender norms, along with the traditional cultural paradigms and religious beliefs engraved within Egyptian minds, the State is further encouraged to act in favour of the status-quo. The main approach would be to focus on the social and cultural processes for more gender-sensitive political decisions. Outdated and blatantly misogynistic laws are to be seriously addressed, otherwise fair trials and equal protection is to never be achieved, and the situation of Egyptian women – especially in their homes – is to never evolve.