Women and Men in Late Eighteenth-Century Egypt

Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot

• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN:
  9780292717367
  9780292751804
• eBook ISBN:
  9780292788244
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

In the late eighteenth century, decentralized and chaotic government in Egypt allowed women a freedom of action that has not been equaled until recent times. Delving extensively into archival sources, Afaf Marsot presents the first comprehensive picture of women's status and opportunities in this period.

Marsot makes important connections between forms of government, economic possibilities, and gender relations, showing how political instability allowed women to acquire property, independent of males, as a hedge against political uncertainty. She traces the linkages that women formed among themselves and with the ulama (non-Ottoman native elites) who aided and supported them. The book concludes with a comparison of women's status in the nineteenth century, when the introduction of European institutions that did not recognize their legal existence marginalized women, causing them to have to rely on men as major breadwinners. These important findings about the relationship between forms of government and the status of women will be of interest to a wide audience.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Women in the Eyes of Men: Myth and Reality
• 2. Political Struggles: The Search for Leadership
• 3. Society in Mamluk Egypt: The Elites
• 4. Indigenous Elites in the Eighteenth Century: Ulama and Tujjar
• 5. Artisans and Ayan: Urban and Rural Middle and Lower Classes in the Eighteenth Century
• 6. The Nineteenth Century: The Advent of Centralization
• Appendix A. Mamluk Elites
• Appendix B. Native Elites
• Appendix C. Women of Artisanal Classes
• Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Index