Diane Singerman

The authors of these rich ethnographic essays demonstrate that the Egyptian household plays a crucial, if largely overlooked, role in the dynamics of political, economic, and social change. While Western social scientists have assumed that employment outside the home improves women’s autonomy and status, economic liberalization in Egypt is shown here to have worsened the situation of women and undermined their authority within the household. The collection explains why such everyday issues as unemployment, government subsidies, gender relations, housing, political participation, educational mobility, and the standard of living have become increasingly politicized at the household level, a development that has direct implications in the context of Islamist challenges to the state.… (more)