Victims and Heroines: Women, Welfare and the Egyptian State [Hardcover]

Iman Bibars (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1856499340 | ISBN-13: 978-1856499347 | Publication Date: August 18, 2001

Poverty and inequality are increasing in developing countries such as Egypt--where women particularly suffer. Those in charge of female-headed households comprise a very large category of socially-deprived women--almost 30% of all Egyptian families. This book looks at how these women cope with poverty, and how they extract benefits such as welfare payments and pensions from state agencies and religious welfare organizations. Her findings conclude that women in these positions encounter a serious gender bias.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Iman Bibars is a consultant who has worked with the World Bank, various UN agencies, the Population Council, and the European Commission in Cairo.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Zed Books (August 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1856499340
• ISBN-13: 978-1856499347
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,726,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Different Take on Welfare Mothers, August 7, 2003

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Victims and Heroines: Women, Welfare and the Egyptian State (Paperback)

In the US and some other developed countries, there is often much to-do about welfare "bludgers". Of these welfare recipients, those that are single women with children consistently attract the most opprobrium. The US has the added overly of race: The stereotype of a racial minority single mother. This admixture exacerbates feelings, at the very least. An American might ask: If we could somehow remove the racial stereotype, would there still be an animus towards women-headed households on welfare?

That is the attraction of this book. It looks at the travails of such women in Egypt. The women are all of the same ethnicity as most of the population, and mostly too of the same religion, Islam. The narrative shows that prejudice still exists; of a conservative patriarchal bent, where the women are blamed for their situations and discriminated against, to "encourage" them to find a husband to head their households. Due to Egypt being a conservative Muslim country. Yet such attitudes are scarcely unknown amongst social and Christian conservatives here.

Bibars writes in a clear style, readily understandable to laymen. Mostly dispassionate. But she presents excerpts from several interviewees that starkly describe the difficulties they face. A constant theme is poverty or near-poverty; and these are Egyptian levels of subsistence. Some readers may find these passages not easy going.