Reproductive rights of Egyptian women: issues for debate

Because the definitions of reproductive health and reproductive rights are so broad, it has been possible in Egypt and elsewhere for one or other issue on the reproductive health agenda to be prioritised to the detriment or exclusion of others, and a comprehensive approach avoided. Reproductive health and rights language was introduced in Egypt around the time of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. From the moment these concepts were translated into Arabic, activists, scholars and women themselves discussed and debated their meanings and questioned whether Egyptian culture permitted a rights approach of this kind and whether reproductive rights were actually perceived as such by Egyptian women. This paper discusses the language of reproductive rights in relation to cultural specificity in the Egyptian context, Egyptian women's perceptions of reproductive rights, the role of tradition and religion, and the ways in which reproductive rights are taken up under Egyptian law. It analyses some of the arguments used against reproductive rights on these grounds.