Martha Atta spends long hours in front of piles of house slippers whose parts she glues together at the factory where she works, for EGP 150 a day, sometimes rising to EGP 200 if she manages to finish the full required number. She leaves her two children at the church nursery for half the time, while her mother looks after them until she returns from her work at the factory, after separating from her husband: living together had become impossible, but the church refuses to grant them a divorce, and he decided to give his twin children only EGP 1,000, nothing more.
Martha has remained without any alimony or divorce ruling, living without an income sufficient for her and her children, or even the right to obtain assistance or a pension from the government. She is forced to work long hours away from her two children, and is looking for ways to increase her income as her twins approach school age, especially since the father has said explicitly that he will not increase the amount he pays.
While Martha suffers under the pressure of expenses, her fate and that of thousands of “suspended” Christian women was being discussed in the House of Representatives’ debates at the beginning of this month, through the discussion of the Social Security and Cash Support Bill, especially clause (20) of Article (1), which defines the separated Christian woman. It requires a separated Christian woman to obtain a certificate of separation from the church authority in order to receive state support, which under the bill aims to provide a decent life for citizens, especially the groups most in need of care, to improve the social safety net.
In Egypt, thousands of Egyptian Christian women suffer from the crisis of the absence of divorce, as the five major churches in Egypt (Orthodox, Catholic, Evangelical, Episcopal and Greek Orthodox) refuse divorce except in limited cases. The Orthodox and Evangelical churches recognise divorce on grounds of adultery, and the Evangelical church does not recognise so-called constructive adultery, while the Catholic church rejects divorce, and is the only church that recognises separation without divorce.
Before 1971, Egypt did not suffer from a divorce crisis, as divorce was subject to the 1938 Regulations, drawn up by the Community Council, a council comprising non-clerical, secular Christian figures, founded by Khedive Ismail and chosen by election. The regulations drawn up by the council included several grounds for divorce, including adultery, absence for five years, a custodial sentence of more than seven years against one of the spouses, insanity or mental illness, the impossibility of living together and domestic violence. But with the arrival of Pope Shenouda, he refused to apply the regulations and declared that they contradicted the teachings of the Bible, which say there is no divorce except on grounds of adultery. Christians nonetheless continued to obtain divorce through the courts, while obtaining permission for a second marriage only in limited cases.
In 2008, the administrative judiciary issued a ruling obliging the church to issue second-marriage permits to Christians, a ruling Pope Shenouda commented on at the time as not binding on the church. But, to avoid a crisis, the Community Council issued a decision amending the 1938 Regulations, limiting the grounds for divorce to actual or constructive adultery only, before the Constitutional Court issued a ruling invalidating the ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court.
Martha did not go to court to obtain a divorce ruling because she cannot afford the cost of litigation and its stages, and also because of the legislation that does not allow her to obtain a divorce except by changing denomination, which would become her only outlet, since in the case of different denominations the matter is referred to Islamic Sharia. But Martha, on a limited income, cannot resort to this option either, as it costs about EGP 70,000 through the cooperation of the denomination-change and divorce brokers known in the Egyptian Christian community. The lawyer also told her that she would not get alimony of more than the EGP 1,000 her husband already pays, and that he might stop paying it.
The House Debates
According to clause 20 of Article 1 of the Social Security and Cash Support Bill, the term “separated Christian woman” is defined as “a woman who has separated from her husband without a church divorce, which is proven by a certificate from the religious leadership to which she belongs or by a final court ruling”. This text, as Said Fayez, a lawyer specialising in Christian personal status, points out, strengthens the church’s powers over women in divorce cases, raising questions about its impact on the rights of Christian women in Egypt.
Fayez tells Zawia3: “There is a multi-sided crisis in the issue of the separated woman in Christianity. No Egyptian church recognises separation except the Catholic church, which rejects divorce for any reason and therefore recognises physical separation, which here is permanent separation. In the other churches, the woman or the party wishing to separate turns to the church to obtain a divorce, and the spouses separate temporarily until the crisis is resolved. Here the separation may last for years, because the church does not recognise divorce except on grounds of adultery, which may be impossible to prove, and the spouses remain suspended for many years. Cases differ according to the church: churches in the Fifth Settlement and Sheikh Zayed, for example, differ from churches in the provinces or in informal areas, where the clergy are against divorce.”
He adds that the Catholic church will have no problem issuing separation certificates, while the other churches, foremost among them the Orthodox church, will not issue this certificate, because it is an implicit acknowledgement of a crisis, especially since the law did not specify the body that will issue the certificate: whether it is the parish priest of the church the spouses belong to, the diocese or the cathedral itself. He explains that in any case, if the priest or bishop refuses to issue this certificate, the wife will not be able to do anything against the clergyman, because he is not an administrative body but a spiritual leader over whom the government has no authority.
The lawyer concerned with Christians’ rights explains that the five major churches agreed on a personal status bill regulating divorce, but it has not yet seen the light.
To resolve the crisis, Said proposes limiting the church’s control over women by referring the entire file to the Ministry of Social Solidarity, which would examine each case separately, especially since there are cases that do not seek divorce and separate without announcing it, out of concern for social appearances or a desire to apply the church’s Christian teachings.
If Martha was able to obtain a meagre sum from her husband to spend on her children, Faten Ragaei did not obtain that right, especially since she had no children from her marriage, which lasted no more than ten months, during which she lost her foetus because her husband forced her to serve his family.
Obtaining a Pension Is Forbidden
Faten obtained only an intermediate qualification, as is the case in her family, and entered an arranged marriage through the church after a meeting arranged by the parish priest. After a year of engagement, she was surprised that she had to serve a family of seven, even though her family had stipulated that she live in a separate home. Over time, she bore more burdens, and despite her pregnancy, she was subjected to violence by her husband. After losing her foetus, and being accused by her husband’s family of seeking an abortion, she decided to return to her family’s home, where she remained suspended for eight years. But after her father’s death, she found herself unable to obtain her legal rights, such as pensions or government support, because her papers show that she is still married.
Ishak Ibrahim, director of the equality and non-discrimination programme at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, believes that “granting the religious authority, represented by the church, the power to issue certificates recognising separation and pointing to the crisis is a good thing, but the problem lies first in whether the churches will issue such certificates, especially since there are families who, to preserve social appearances, do not go to the courts or the church to obtain a divorce or separation, and have separated only physically; the woman should not be punished, especially if she is poor, for her sacrifice to preserve the appearance of the family or for the children”.
He adds, speaking to Zawia3: “There is another problem, which is the absence of a supervisory body over the clergy who are given the power to issue certificates, because they are not an administrative body. This means that a woman who wants to obtain this certificate is subject to the whims or ideas of the clergyman, who may see this certificate as a challenge to church teachings. Therefore, there must be an administrative body, represented by the Ministry of Solidarity, to which the woman can turn and which examines her situation based on the social reality and the testimonies of witnesses, neighbours or others; and if there is any fraud, the authorities have many methods and ways to punish the manipulator and recover the support.”
Zawia3 tried to obtain a comment from Hegumen Moussa Ibrahim, spokesperson of the Orthodox Church, but he declined to comment on the subject because the law is still under discussion and has not yet been approved.
Pending the law’s approval, Christian women such as Martha and Faten remain prisoners of their marriages, unable to separate legally or to obtain sufficient financial support.
