Progress Amid Resistance

102 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAto create a more sensitized and responsive police force, impose strictaccountability mechanisms to deal with officers showing laxity in theirwork, and invest in improved lighting for poor neighborhoods.F The authorities should vigorously prosecute perpetrators and complicitactors in cases of sexual harassment and molestation, and publicize theverdicts and sentences as a deterrent to future offenders.F Women’s civil society organizations should seek to strengthen the voiceof Coptic women by engaging those who are socially active in discussionson revisions to Coptic personal status regulations.F The personal status code should be amended to streamline the faultbaseddivorce process for abused women and reduce the ability of husbandsto delay or thwart no-fault (khula) divorce proceedings.F The government and civil society organizations should support the es -tablishment of more women’s shelters across the country, with qualifiedstaff and adequate resources.ECONOMIC RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITYWomen remain significantly underrepresented in the labor force, butmore women now hold jobs than ever before, and female unemploymentfigures have decreased since 2004. The gender gap in education hasbeen closing, with 95 girls for every 100 boys enrolled in primary schoolsin 2007, a significant improvement over the 66 girls for every 100 boysin 1975. 43 However, these gains risk being undermined by the country’sgeneral economic deprivation, which is taking an increasing toll on boththe middle class and the already marginalized segments of the population.Current Egyptian laws do not discriminate on the basis of gender withre spect to ownership and use of land and property. Similarly, nothing inthe laws restricts women’s full and independent use of their income andassets. Nevertheless, women in practice often delegate the responsibility ofmanaging property, land, assets, and businesses to their brothers, fathers,or husbands out of respect for patriarchal norms. Some argue that thesenorms are justified because it is the legal and social duty of men to assumefinancial responsibility for women and act as their caretakers throughoutlife. For example, the failure of a man to provide for his wife and childrenis one of the legal grounds for a divorce initiated by a woman. However,this patriarchal control of assets is sometimes manipulated to depriveand cheat women of their economic rights. They are left vulnerable and