Egyptian Made: Women, Work, and the Promise of Liberation

Women in Cairo walk the tightrope between traditional values and the globalized economy in this immersive and sharply observed account from journalist Chang (Factory Girls). In some developing countries, growth in the manufacturing sector has led to an increase in women’s employment, education, and basic rights, but Chang asserts that this has not happened in Egypt, where cultural restrictions on women have clamped down rather than eased up. (Any woman who wants to work must have her father’s or husband’s permission, which is often denied.) Chang profiles individual women she followed over the course of two years, including Riham, a rare female factory-owner, whose attempts to support her female employees and promote a familial work environment eventually gave way to a more authoritarian approach that emulated “the anonymity of the modern factory floor.” While Chang partially attributes this coarsening effect to the obstacles raised by traditional values, she likewise, and more bitingly, blames the leveling effect of globalization, which by pushing for uniformity and ever-greater productivity, squeezes women with family commitments out of the workforce and breeds reactionary politics. Chang’s cogent analysis and lyric impressions (women arriving at work “hug and kiss... as if they’ve been apart for months or years rather than just one day”) are threaded with insight into Egypt’s political and economic history. It’s an eye-opener. (Mar.)