Egypt's Laws of Personal Status

Abstract

May 4, 1985. Promulgated by President Anwar Sadat while the People's Assembly was in recess, two years before his assassination, the invalidated law had provided welcome relief for Egyptian women by seeking to break the grip of male dominance. The High Court's ruling sparked considerable debate between reformists, who advocate the liberalization of marriage and divorce laws, and conservatives, who hold that matters of personal status are regulated by the Sharica and are not susceptible to modification by human legislation. Most Egyptian women were alarmed by the Court's decision, because it meant a return to the 1929 law of personal status, a law most unfavorable to women and completely out of step with modern times. • Muslim conservatives, on the other hand, hailed the ruling as a victory for Islam.