Women in Nineteenth-Century EgyptThe nineteenth century in Egypt was a period of rapid social and economic change, brought about by the country's developing ties with the European economy. Focusing on lower-class women, this study traces changes in the work role and family life of peasant women in the countryside and craftswomen and traders in Cairo, and explores the world of the slave woman. The effects of capitalist transformation on women are studied in detail, using material from the Islamic court records. The effects of the Egyptian process of state formation and colonial rule are discussed: the growth of the state apparatus, its social services and repressive means, brought new kinds of intervention into women's lives. The book provides a unique account of the very active economic, social and political roles of nineteenth-century women, from the peasant and street pedlar to the slave of the harem. |
Contents
List of illustrations | viii |
Acknowledgments | ix |
List of abbreviations | xi |
Note on transliteration and dates | xii |
Introduction | 1 |
Ploughs and shares women agricultural productions and property | 16 |
Spindles and songs women in urban occupations | 64 |
Private and public life women and the growth of the State | 102 |
Women resistance and repression | 132 |
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Common terms and phrases
activities agricultural al-Maḥdi Alex Artisans Baer British Caire Cairo claims concubine consuls Correspond corvée labor cotton countryside court records crafts crops death Dhu al-hijjah Dhu al-qa'dah divorce Duff Gordon economic Egyptian elite estates European factories Fatāwā female slaves freed girls guilds Hekekyan Papers household husband Ibid iltizām industry inheritance institutions Islamic law Jumādā Khedive kuttābs l'Egypte land mahr male Mamluke manumission marriage married military ministre mufti Muḥammad Ali Muḥammad Ali period Muḥammad Ali's Muharram multazims nineteenth century officials owner peasant family peasant women piasters policies political population prison production Progress of Reforms prostitutes province qāḍī Rabi Rajab recruitment religious Rhodes House role rural Şafar schools share sharecropping shari'ah courts Shawwal shaykh slavery social society Soudan status textile trade Turq Upper Egypt urban usufruct village waqf wife wives woman workers