Reem Marhamo
Anthropology 272
November 30 2015
Egypt
Egypt is an African country that faces problems such as poverty, underdevelopment, lack of shelter, gender inequality and many more problems that affect the economic and social growth (Datt and Joliffe, 1999). Several development programs try to support the rising problems in Egypt such as programs based in Canada and in the US. These programs try to support education, agriculture and the quality of life that Egyptians strive to have. Yet, corruption is still present in Egypt and it shows in political conflicts. In this paper, I argue the symptoms of poverty in Egypt, along with the programs that try to help in developing the country, but I also show that corruption still persists especially after the revolution.
Egypt is a country located in Africa, and is considered to be a part of the Arab World. Egypt was a part of the Ottoman Empire, but after 1882 it was under British occupation. For decades, it was turned into a source of cotton for British industry and the Suez Canal became British-French owned property. It was only in 1952 that the British military left the country thus ending British imperialism. (Al Ahram, 2015). Egypt has a complex relationship with the neighbouring countries: it contains many immigrants from nearby African countries, and has been seeking to play a role in solving the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
Poverty
According to the 2004 Egyptian HDR by the National Planning Institute, there are 11.8 million people who are living under the poverty line (UNDP, 2004). The report also states that approximately 6.8 million citizens do not have access to health services, that 4.1 million have no access to piped water and that there are almost 2.1 million illiterate Egyptians.
Poverty and Unemployment
The unemployment rate and the number of pensioners and informal workers can provide insight into the poverty situation. The International Labour Organization publishes a number of 11 million Egyptians who are unemployed (Laborstat). The Minister of Social Affairs Aminah Hamzah Mahmoud Al-Guindi says that there are one million families who receive the social insurance pension equivalent to 8.72 USD each month (Tadros, 2000). If we calculate this, an average family, which is made up of four people, has a monthly income of 2 dollars. This miserable poverty is one of the reasons why wages are related to the increase in the prices of services.
Poverty and shelter: how poor Egyptians live with the dead.
A report by CAPMAS states that 12 million Egyptians have no shelter and thus have nowhere to go but live in cemeteries, shacks, garages, mosques and under staircases. It estimates that in Cairo alone, 1.5 million people live in cemeteries. With increased housing problems, people started to live in these structures permanently (UN, 2000).
Children at work, not at play
Child labour exists in Egypt as poverty rises. UNICEF figures estimate that 6% of children aged 5-14 years old work (UNICEF). A survey done in 1999 that looked at girls and boys in Cairo showed that on average they work no less than nine hours per day and for more than six days a week, even exceeding the working hours of adults.
The cotton industry is one of the most popular employments of children. A 2001 study by Human Rights Watch, shows that each year over one million children are employed in the cotton fields. The children’s work is to manually remove cotton leaf worm infestations. These children work 11 hours a day, 7 days a week and they face abuse by their supervisor as well as exposure to toxic chemicals (Human Rights Watch, 2001). Street children are another symptom of poverty with an approximately 150,000 children who are in Cairo alone (UN, 2001).
Gender Inequality
Egypt’s seems to have a high amount of gender inequality that relates to poverty (UNDP, 2004). Women in Egypt continue to face discrimination, as less then half of the women (43.6%) of are literate compared to 67.2% of men in the same age group. There is low representation of women in governmental positions, which shows the imbalance in the power structure in politics even.
Development
The development of Egyptian economics is highly related to tourism. The pyramids and the ancient culture of Pharaohs is a great attraction for tourists. Development also occurs in the agricultural sector because in the last 20 years wheat and maize have shown a marked improvement of yields after the introduction of better varieties and improved techniques (Issawi, 1947). Canada is one of the countries that support the Egyptian development. Canada's international development program in Egypt is aligned with the country's economic plan. The Sixth Five-Year Plan 2007-2012 created employment through market reforms, stimulating investment and promoting private sector participation in the economy.
The goal of Canada's international development program in Egypt is to help the country in having economic growth by strengthening the small and medium-sized enterprises and providing skills for employment to marginalized people (Canadian Government website, 2015).
The US also helps Egypt through the USAid Program. USAID helped to improve the quality of life for Egyptians through programs in health, education, governance, and economic development. The program in Egypt, for nearly $30 billion since 1975, has directly supported concrete achievements that have improved the lives of and futures of Egyptians. USAid program also helped the telecommunications sector, helped fighting air pollution in Egypt, and allowed to create more job opportunities for Egyptians (USAid, 2015).
Corruption
The history of corruption in Egypt goes back to before 2011. The corruption in the government and in the political decisions lead to a historical event, which is the Egyptian revolution as a part of the Arab Spring. When Morsy took the place of the president, it was believed that he would end corruption. Yet, the situation remains the same (CNN, 2013). According to the Huffington post, the corruption in Egypt is because the government is detached from the people especially in the Mubarak era that made protesters wanting to overthrow him. So, corruption in Egypt is mostly political, as the people do not feel heard. This lead to much political insecurity that added up to the country’s problems like poverty. Corruption exists inside the government as the democracy is not really applied, and the people are not equally engaged in elections and political decisions. According to the BBC, Egypt's agriculture minister was arrested in connection with the corruption inquiry. Corruption takes forms in economy, as the poor people are not allowed to rise, since connections and people in power control most of the high level jobs. This leads to the wrong people being in the wrong jobs just because of their connection and the money they own, not because of their competencies. According to the World Bank Organization, the country lacked the regulations to enforce corruption. Data collected in 2012 showed that nothing happened to civil servants caught accepting a bribe for a license .
Research by Egyptian institutes and the World Bank in 2009 again showed the public’s agreement: the majority of Egyptians believed that paying a bribe guaranteed the delivery of a public service or resolved a problem they had with the government.
From an economic view, corruption stops growth. Good governance and anti-corruption are central to the World Bank’s goals of reducing the amount of poverty in the world, stated Edward Al-Dahdah, who is based in Cairo for the Bank as its Senior Public Sector Specialist.
As a concluding remark, we see how the poverty in Egypt manifests, along with the manifestations of corruption in this country. We also showed how western countries are trying to aid the county’s development. We see pattern of poverty that are mostly related to politics. Poverty arises from the lack of political decisions that aim to improve Egyptian’s lives , and corruption also arises from the underdevelopment of laws that stop the bribery in the government. However, due to a colonial history with Egypt, we see that western countries like the US, Canada and Britain, still maintain a relationship with the country’s politics. This may assure them a strong privilege in maintaining a powerful presence in the middle eastern political issues. We can say that the colonial past may play a role in these symptoms : Egypt was not very independent in ruling its people, and when the British left, there was no more string infrastructure to the political decisions. The country has been plagued by chaos since then. Gondaleeza Rice once talked about the importance of the “creative chaos” in the Middle East. The postcolonial dynamics, thus affect the development, the politics and the revolutions in this country.
Work cited
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