Development, Change, and Gender in Cairo: A View from the Household (Arab and Islamic Studies)

"... the quality of each of these essays is excellent, and the book warrants extensive reading by political scientists, sociologists, and all scholars of the contemporary Middle East. ―American Journal of Sociology

"This book’s ethnographic material offers much to surprise and challenge assumptions about gender, Islam and social change in Egypt." ―MESA Bulletin

"Taken together, these articles leave the reader with an excellent understanding of the realities of contemporary Egypt and a sense of the vitality and energy that permeates Cairo." ―Digest of Middle East Studies

The essays presented here, based on extensive ethnographic research, focus on the Egyptian household as the key institution for understanding the dynamics of political, economic, and social change. Economic liberalization has had particular, often ambivalent consequences for low-income groups, especially women, and for gender relations.

DIANE SINGERMAN is Associate Professor in the Department of Government, School of Public Affairs, at the American University. She is the author of Avenues of Participation: Families, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo. HOMA HOODFAR is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal. She has carried out research on the impact of development and social change on the lives of Muslim women in Cairo, Teheran, and Montreal.