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Gender, Social Change, and Living Arrangements Among Older Egyptians During the 1990s

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Abstract

We compare older Egyptian women’s and men’s propensities to live with unmarried children only, any ever-married children, and alone, and we assess “kin-keeping” versus “modernization” hypotheses about the effects of social change on living arrangements during 1988–2000. Socioeconomic differences among women and men accounted for much of their crude differences in living arrangements during the period. Propensities to live with any ever-married children declined, and propensities to live alone or with unmarried children only rose. Compared to men, women continued to live more often with any ever-married children and less often with unmarried children only, and the 1988 gender gap in solitary residence disappeared by 2000. Increasing coresidential demands from unmarried dependent children, less frequent coresidential support from ever-married children, and rapidly increasing rates of solitary living especially among older men suggest emerging needs for non-coresidential instrumental support, especially among older Egyptians who are economically disadvantaged.

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Notes

  1. Taiwan and St. Lucia are exceptions in that levels of solitary living do not differ by older adult’s gender.

  2. Such activities may include the maintenance of communication, support with housework, the exchange of gifts, help with shopping, and the provision of moral support in times of need (Hoodfar 1997).

  3. “Harm” includes emotional and material injury caused, for example, by polygamous marriage or failure of maintenance over time. Yet, harm is variously interpreted, and some women have had difficulty obtaining a divorce on these grounds. In 2000, personal status laws pertaining to divorce in Egypt changed to permit wives to obtain a divorce without proving mistreatment (Singerman 2005).

  4. The median age at marriage is 19.5 years among ever-married women aged 25–49 (El-Zanaty and Way 2001), and men tend to marry later than women, on average (Singerman and Ibrahim 2001).

  5. In practice, the rate of unemployment between 1980 and 2000 rose among men (from 3.9% to 5.1%) and women (from 19.2% to 22.7%) (World Bank 2002). Also, the Egyptian government lifted rent controls in 1996, which arguably increased the cost of housing during this decade. These changes during the 1990s may have enhanced the dependence of young married and unmarried adults on the financial and residential support of their older parents, despite a persistent norm to live independently.

  6. The urban governorates include Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, and Suez. The frontier governorates include the Red Sea, New Valley, Matrouh, and North and South Sinai. Lower Egypt includes the governorates north of Cairo, except Alexandria and Port Said. Upper Egypt includes the governorates south of Cairo and adjacent to the Nile River, except the Red Sea governorate.

  7. Yet, rates of unemployment remained high among women and men (20%, 8% in 2000; 19%, 5% in 1980).

  8. Unless indicated, figures in this paragraph were obtained on February 2, 2005 from http://www.genderstats.worldbank.org/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=EGY,Egypt,%20Arab%20Rep.&hm=home.

  9. The greater dependence of unmarried than married children has social and economic meaning in this setting. Unmarried children are expected to live with their parents, are acquiring the resources for marriage, and so tend to be more financially dependent. Married children already acquired the resources for marriage, may live separately from their parents, but simply may not be financially able to do so.

  10. Some eligible older adults were dropped from the analysis as a result of item nonresponse for covariates (n = 513, or 3% of the 17,513 adults aged 60 years or older who were identified in all surveys). The eligible sample included the following numbers of older adults in each survey round: 3,473 in 1988, 3,815 in 1992, 5,073 in 1995, and 5,152 in 2000.

  11. These items are standard ones included in household-wealth or standard-of-living scores that are derived from information collected in the DHS (Filmer and Pritchett 1999).

  12. Lower Egypt includes the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, Suez, Damietta, Dakahlia, Sharkia, Kalyubia, Kafr El-Sheikh, Gharbia, Menoufia, Behera, and Ismailia. Upper Egypt includes the governorates of Giza, Beni Suef, Fayoum, Minya, Assiut, Souhag, Qena, and Aswan.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was prepared with support from the Departments of Global Health and Sociology at Emory University and the Social Research Center, American University in Cairo. We appreciate assistance from Ms. Kathryn Kramer in the preparation of this manuscript and take responsibility for any remaining errors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubert Department of Global Health, The Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road NE, Room 724, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Kathryn M. Yount

  2. Department of Sociology, Emory University, Atlanta, USA

    Kathryn M. Yount

  3. Social Research Center, American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt

    Zeinab Khadr

  4. Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Zeinab Khadr

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Correspondence to Kathryn M. Yount.

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Yount, K.M., Khadr, Z. Gender, Social Change, and Living Arrangements Among Older Egyptians During the 1990s. Popul Res Policy Rev 27, 201–225 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-007-9060-7

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