Teenage girls in low-income areas of Egypt are vulnerable to trafficking. Many come with their families and housekeeping staff, spending their days by the pool, shopping, and frequenting cafes and nightclubs. Others come for a more sinister purpose. In El Hawamdia, a poor agricultural town 20 kilometres south of Cairo, they are easy to spot. Each year, in El Hawamdia and other impoverished rural communities across Egypt, thousands of girls between the ages of 11 and 18 are sold by their parents to wealthy, much older Gulf Arab men under the pretext of marriage. The sham nuptials may last from a couple of hours to years, depending on the negotiated arrangement.
On Virginity: What Egyptian Men Think of Women Who've Had Premarital Sex
Virginity is a sacred aspect when it comes to marriage in Egypt - or is it? Mariam Raymone interviews men with different backgrounds to understand what they think of women who lose their virginity before marriage. Of the unfortunate undeniable truths of Egyptian society and our general commonwealth is gender inequality. It is one of the simple infallibilities of our Egyptian existence. The Woman is second to the Man.
You can get very successful in your career, but there is nothing more important in this world than to have somebody with whom you can share your success. Do you want to meet a single woman who can become your wife and will spend every second of her life loving you, supporting you in troubles, and being proud with every step you make? Do you want to be with someone to whom you can devote your life and who will do the same for you? Do you want a good mother for your future children?
Skip to content. We need your support. Make a gift to support our work now, and your donation will be matched, dollar for dollar. All of them have undergone female genital mutilation FGM , a procedure that usually causes the victim to take little if any pleasure in sexual intercourse.