Egypt’s Family Law deepens Egyptians’ hardship

Egyptians are awaiting the long-anticipated new Personal Status Law, widely known as the “Family Law”, amid concerns that it could introduce new restrictions and penalties that would place additional burdens on families and contribute to rising divorce rates and family breakdown in a country where, according to official figures, a divorce takes place every two minutes. 

The draft law, which comprises around 355 articles, has sparked extensive social, religious and political debate over marriage conditions, divorce procedures, alimony, child custody, visitation rights, the marital home and other contentious issues affecting family relationships.

The controversy escalated after Al-Azhar said the draft law had not yet been referred to it and that it had not taken part in drafting it.

In a statement, the institution said it had submitted its own proposal for a personal status law in April 2019, reflecting its Islamic legal perspective on the issue, and that it would issue its religious opinion once the draft was formally referred to it by parliament. 

Al-Azhar is the highest religious authority in Egypt and the wider Arab world. Its approval of legislation referred to it by parliament is widely seen as a constitutional safeguard to ensure compliance with Islamic law. 

Expanding Financial Gains

According to critics, the philosophy underpinning the new legislation is driven by an increasing focus on securing greater financial benefits for women, supported by vocal feminist and human rights advocates. These debates have unfolded against the backdrop of the tragic death of Egyptian blogger Basant Suleiman, who took her own life during a live broadcast from the balcony of her thirteenth-floor apartment in Alexandria last April. 

Before her death, Suleiman had publicly described a four-year ordeal in the family courts, moving between divorce and khula (a wife-initiated divorce under Islamic law) proceedings while also disputing with her former husband over custody, housing and child support for their two daughters. 

“I haven’t seen my children for five years,” said Mohamed Ragab, an employee who described his struggle with his ex-wife who prevents him from seeing his two children keeping track of their school progress while continuing to pursue legal claims against him and, he says, demanding money in exchange for access to them.

Under Egypt’s current personal status law, in force since 1920, a divorced father is entitled to see his children for three hours a week at a location near the custodial parent’s home. In many cases, however, these visits do not take place, with former wives citing illness or other reasons for cancelling them. The proposed law would introduce overnight hosting rights, allowing fathers to spend one or two days with their children and play a more meaningful role in their upbringing. 

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Beyond disputes over visitation, current legislation grants mothers custody until a child reaches the age of 15 and entitles them to the marital home and child support following divorce. Critics argue that this often leaves men bearing significant financial, psychological and family burdens after a failed marriage. 

On the other hand, Mona Gad, a housewife, says her former husband pays her only 2,000 Egyptian pounds (around $40) per month for her and their three children. She says the amount is insufficient to cover basic living expenses amid the sharp decline in the local currency’s value and repeated waves of inflation and rising prices during the presidency of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. 

Points of Contention

The draft law contains numerous potential flashpoints that could turn marital disputes into prolonged legal battles, weaken opportunities for dialogue and compromise between spouses, and negatively affect children’s psychological wellbeing, according to family relations specialist Mai El-Sayed. 

Speaking to Middle East Monitor, El-Sayed warned that some of the proposed amendments could be open to misuse or misapplication, leading to more family disputes rather than resolving them. She argued that the success of any family law should not be measured by the number of penalties it imposes, but by its ability to preserve family stability, reduce conflict and balance rights and responsibilities without favouring one party over another, while prioritising the interests of children. 

Lawyers specialising in family law say several provisions currently before parliament draw on Western legal models. These include proposals on the division of a husband’s wealth upon divorce—potentially up to half or one-third—or financial compensation for divorced women based on the length of the marriage. The draft also requires a husband seeking to take a second wife to obtain written consent from his first wife, placing restrictions on polygamy that critics say are inconsistent with Islamic law. 

Another provision allows a wife to seek judicial annulment of a marriage within six months of the contract being concluded, provided she is neither pregnant nor has given birth, if it can be proven that the husband obtained the marriage through deception or by falsely claiming certain personal attributes. Critics argue that the wording is overly broad and could be exploited as grounds for divorce, while not extending the same right to men.

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The draft law provides for a supplementary agreement to be attached to the marriage contract and enforceable in the event of divorce, enabling couples to regulate matters relating to children, educational guardianship, and the spouses’ financial and legal rights.

Growing Polarisation

Critics argue that the law’s broad and often ambiguous provisions regarding the rights of each party are fuelling sharp polarisation between men and women and could even contribute to criminal behaviour by failing to take account of the difficult economic and social realities facing Egyptians.

Human rights activist Mohamed Abdel Aziz points to provisions granting a divorced mother custody-based rights to remain in the marital home. He argues that such measures are poorly suited to rural Egypt, where men often live in flats within extended family homes. In such cases, a divorced woman could remain in close proximity to her former husband and his relatives, potentially creating tension and opportunities for retaliation.

Ahmed Hani, 30, believes that provisions preventing a person who withdraws from an engagement from reclaiming gifts, and classifying the gold jewellery traditionally given as part of an engagement as a gift to the bride, will discourage young men from getting married and contribute to rising rates of delayed marriage in the country. 

The proposed changes also raise opposition from some women to the reordering of the father’s position in the custody hierarchy after the mother. Previously, custody would pass directly to the maternal grandmother if the mother remarries; an  arrangement which allowed a divorced woman to retain sole control over raising her children and prevent her former husband from seeing them. 

External Influences

The points of contention within Egypt’s proposed Family Law are numerous and complex. Critics warn that they could contribute to early divorce and escalating family disputes in a country that recorded 274,000 divorces in 2024, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics.

A major dispute also remains unresolved between the government and Al-Azhar over verbal divorce. The government argues that verbal divorce should not be legally recognised unless officially documented, while Al-Azhar maintains that it remains valid under Islamic law.

The disagreement has placed the executive and religious establishments on a collision course, particularly as Al-Azhar insists that any amendments affecting personal status legislation must be referred to it for review and approval.

Under the draft law, a husband who pronounces a verbal divorce would be required to register it officially within 15 days. Failure to do so could result in criminal penalties.

Article 7 of Egypt’s current constitution states that: “Al-Azhar is an independent Islamic scholarly institution, exclusively responsible for managing its own affairs. It is the primary authority in religious sciences and Islamic affairs and is responsible for preaching and disseminating religious knowledge and the Arabic language in Egypt and abroad.”

By contrast, feminist and secular advocacy groups oppose relying on any religious authority in drafting the law. Their approach to the proposed amendments has been shaped by UN agreements, the outcomes of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, the 1995 Beijing Conference, the Beijing+ frameworks, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). According to academic and journalist Hiba Zakaria, these frameworks have, over the past three decades, contributed to the erosion of the family structure in Egyptian society and rising levels of family breakdown. 

Zakaria argues that the philosophy behind the proposed law is less concerned with balancing rights and responsibilities or promoting family and social stability than with institutionalising conflict, empowering one side at t-he expense of the other and responding to the loudest feminist and rights-based voices. In her view, the legislation relies on imported concepts and international trends that fail to reflect the particular social realities of Egypt or serve the interests of its citizens. 

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.