text: UNITED NATIONS Convention ontheElimination ofallFormsofDiscrimination AgainstWomen UNUBRARY JUL2?,1990CEDAW Distr. GENERAL CEDAW/C/SR.165 12~'ebruary 1990 ENGLISH ORIGINAL: SPANISH as:.11'__r lit COMMITTEE ONTHEELIMINATION OFDISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN Ninthsession SUMMARY RECORD OFTHE165thMEETING HeldatHeadquarters, NewYork, onWednesday, 31January 1990,at3p.m. CONTENTS Consideration ofreports submitted byStatesparties underarticle 18ofthe Convention (cQn~inued) Thisrecordissubject tocorrection. Corrections should besubmitted inoneoftheworking languages. Theyshould besetforthinamemorandum andalsoincorporated inacopyoftherecord. They should besentwithin oneweekofthedateofthisdocument totheChief,Official Records Editing Section, Department ofConference Services, roomDC2-750, 2United Nations Plaza. Anycorrections totherecords ofthemeetings ofthissession willbe consolidated inasingle corrigendum, tobeissuedshortly aftertheendofthe session. 90-55122 2335S(E), CEDAW/C/SR.165 English Page2 Themeetin9-N9s calledtoorderat~. CONSIDERATION OFREPORTS SUBMITTED BYSTATES PARTIES UNDERARTICLE 18OFTHE CONVENTION (90ntinued) Secondperiodic reportofEgypt(continued) (CEDAW/C/13/Add.2 andknend.l) 1.Attheinvitation oftheChairperson~ Mr.Galal (Egy~~ok aplaceatthe Committee table. 2.Ms.BUSTELO GARCIA DELREALexpressed concernathearing thattherewere restrictions onmaternity leaveinEgyptandthatabortion wastotally prohibited. Itwasalsodisquieting toheartheadmission thatwomendidnotallhaveequal accesstofamilyplanning. 3.Withregardtoarticle 16oftheConvention, itwasherunderstanding that adoption wasnotpermitted inEgypt; sheaskedwhathappened whenachildwas orphaned. Therepresentative oftheEgyptian Government hadsaidthat,inthe eventofdivorce orseparation, themother wasnormally awarded custody ofchildren upto12yearsold,iftheywere girls~ andupto10yearsold,iftheywereboys. Sheaskedwhathappened whenthechildren wereolderthan12or10respectively. 4.Ms.DIALLO SOUMARE saidthatIslamwasnotatallopposed totheexercise of therights ofwomen. Somemenhadincorrectly interpreted thedoctrine andthat hadled,insomecases,totheoppression ofwomeninthenameofIslam. Egyptwas aMuslim country whichwasanexample tomanyothers anditshouldofferallMuslim womentheopportunity tobeproudofIslam;shetherefore hopedthattheGovernment ofEgyptwouldwithdraw itsreservations totheConvention. 5.Ms.BERNARD saidthattheilliteracy rateamongwomeninEgyptremained high, asdidtheschooldrop-out rateamonggirls, andsheurgedtheGovernment ofEgypt totakestepstoremedythesituation. Whilerealizing thatEgyptwashaving economic problems, shehopedthattheGovernment woulddoallwithinitspowerto improve thesituation ofwomen. 6.Ms.PILATAXI DEARENASaskedhowtheConstitution wasabletoharmonize the laws,giventhefactthatthereweredifferent religious groups, Islambeingthe onewiththemostfollowers; whether domestic employees enjoyed socialbenefits; whether fathers hadparental authority overtheirchildren afterdivorce andwhat wastheposition ofawomanwhowascompelled toleavethehome.Finally, she askedwhatwasthepurpose ofprohibiting childadoption andwhatsocialproblems werethereby averted. 7.Ms.LAIOU-ANTONIOU expressed concern attheConstitutional prov~s~on safeguarding harmony between awoman's dutytoherfamily andheractivities in various spheres ofsociety. Infact,thatConstitutional guarantee created basic conditions foranumberofmanifestations ofdiscrimination against women,because therewasclearly noarticle intheEgyptian Constitution safeguarding harmony I ...CEDAWJCJSR.165 English Page3 (Ms.Laiou-Antoniou) between aman'sdutytohisfamily andhissocial andpolitical activities. The provision wasineffectmisleading andshould bedeleted oratleastanalysed. 8.Thereportdidnotrefertothesituation ofmanywomenwhoworkedinfamily businesses, without remuneration andwithout accesstosocialsecurity orsocial benefits. Shewondered whether theGovernment ofEgypttookintoaccount thefact thatmanywomenwereinthatposition andsheexpressed thehopethatthenext report wouldcontain information onthatsubject. 9.Ms.AKAMATSU recalled thatattheprevious meeting Ms.Tallawy hadpointed out thatEgyptmightwithdraw itsreservations toarticle 16.Shehopedthatitwould
analysis: The text appears to be a summary record of a meeting of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, discussing the second periodic report of Egypt on its implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The topics of discussion include women's rights, maternity leave, family planning, adoption, and education, among others. The language used is formal and official, suggesting a focus on policy and law.