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Women in the Egyptian countryside suffer poverty, unemployment and violence
The LCHR has received complaints from El Berya village – Asiute governorate, complaining about the continuous deterioration of women's conditions under the absence of care and negligence to their rights.
One of the women workers in the agrarian sector say "we are so poor that we have to go to the fields to plow, harvest and irrigate the land, we work from the early morning till sunset with a daily fee of five pounds. If one of us got sick, she won't find who can treat her and she will be immediately fired from working in the field. We used to collect a pension from the social affairs, but they have stopped it for no reason. Life is difficult and we don't know what to do"
Another woman says "I work at home all day, help my husband in storing seeds and in cleaning animal droppings. After the government kicked us out of the land that used to rent, I have been breeding poultry to provide my family with eggs and meet, but the government tore down my nests after the spread of the bird flu disease, which forced us to take our children out of school to work for daily wages in order to support the family"
One of the village girls says "my family prevents me from working in fields or shops because I am educated, and the village doesn't have any factories or companies to work in. I have finished my education five years ago and have been unemployed ever since"
Another girl says "I have left school to work in the field for five pounds a day, and everyday we suffer humiliation and ill-treatment by the landlords, but we have to bear that, as without this work we could die of hunger"
The LCHR is wondering about the role of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood and the national Council for Women's Rights in improving and developing women's condition in the countryside especially in Upper Egypt, especially after the statements declared by the boards of these councils that they receive millions of pounds to develop women's conditions. The LCHR is also wondering about the statements declared by Secretary General of the Policies Committee at the National party stating that it has saved billions of pounds because of the increase of the fuel prices by 30% and that it will be spent in developing Upper Egypt.
The LCHR calls all CSOs to pay special attention to Southern Egypt especially to women by establishing developmental projects and providing the deprived villages with different types of services and care.
LCHR presents the complaints of these women to the Minister of Social Solidarity to support and help them under the Ministry's projects to guarantee their rights to social security, safety, freedom and decent living in a forgotten countryside in Upper Egypt.
For more information, please contact the Center.