Region | Egypt
Woman moves court over registrar's job
An Egyptian woman has gone to court to be permitted to conduct marriage contracts.
- By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
- Published: 00:08 February 18, 2008
Cairo: An Egyptian woman has gone to court to be permitted to conduct marriage contracts.
"Women have become judges and government ministers. So why are they prevented from working as marriage registrars?" says Amal Afifi.
Since Amal, a mother of three, applied for the job traditionally done by men, she has raised many eyebrows in this conservative Muslim society.
"The idea of becoming a marriage registrar occurred to me after the death of my uncle who did this job," Amal told Gulf News.
"None of his sons wanted to follow in his footsteps as they had all studied engineering or medicine. Being a school of law graduate, I decided to apply for the job with the support of my husband."
Edge over men
Amal has an MA degree in law, which she describes as giving her the edge over all other 12 male applicants to the job in her area in Zagazig, some 60km north of Cairo.
"It will be a good idea to have some female marriage registrars, as young women planning to get married would feel comfortable talking to them and giving their direct consent to the contract," she argues.
"This also holds true in cases of divorce as women would find it easier to talk to a female registrar than to a man. This may help salvage marriages from collapse," Amal, 34, says.
In fact, she is not the first Egyptian woman to have tried to end the male monopoly on this job, locally known as ma'zun. Eight years ago, another woman applied for the job, but her bid was blocked after the then Mufti of Egypt passed a fatwa (a religious edict) against women doing the job.
In an auspicious sign for Amal's bid, several Muslim clerics, including Egypt's incumbent Mufti Ali Jumaa, have declared that there are no restrictions in Islam on women working as marriage registrars.
"According to the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence [followed in Egypt], women are allowed to conduct any form of financial, commercial or familial contract, including marriage," Jumaa, Egypt's top Muslim cleric, was quoted as saying in the local press recently.
Some Muslim clerics disagree, however. "This job is unfit for women as it usually requires mixing with men for a long time, a requirement which is against Islam," said Anwar Dabour, a professor of Sharia Law. "It is unwise to allow women to work as marriage registrars especially as there are many qualified men who can do the job," Dabour told this paper.
Though no date is set yet for a final court ruling on her application, Amal vows not to give in. "I'll go ahead with the legal procedures to get the job, even if this means going to the Supreme Constitutional Court," she says. "The Egyptian Constitution enshrines the principle of equality between women and men in holding public posts."
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