Development, Change, and Gender in Cairo

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, the literature on women living in the Middle East has shown an uneven but progressive sophistication in its approach. The view of backward, oppressed, submissive women is gradually being replaced by an understanding that women in the Middle East, like women anywhere, are "rational" actors, fully cognizant of their environment and situations. Books such as Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East,1 and Muslim Women's Choices: Religious Belief and Social Reality2 are examples of this welcome ttend. Development, Change, and Gender in Cairo: A View from the Household, edited by Diane Singerman and Homa Hoodfar, is a fine contribution lo this new genre. The essays in this book not only show that Cairene women are intelligent and comprehending observers of Egyptian society, but that they are also active participants in their society-acting upon it, as well as being acted upon. We would hardly need a scholarly book lo tell us this, if it were not for the sttength and prevalence of the negative stereotype of the "oppressed/silenced/submissive Muslim woman," contributed lo in no small measure by previous scholarly books! Development, Change, and Gender in Cairo: A View from the Household contains seven essays detailing various aspects of low-income Cairene women's lives, plus an introduction by the editors which sets the more focused empirical essays into broader theoretical context The volume is an interdisciplinary work, with contributions from sociologists, anthropologists, communications special ...