Dr. Bahaa Helmy writes: Discrimination against women between the Constitution and the law

The 2014 Constitution established that citizens are equal before the law and equal in public rights, freedoms and duties, with no discrimination among them on grounds of religion, belief or sex; that, except in cases of flagrante delicto, no one may be arrested, searched, detained or have their freedom restricted in any way except by a reasoned judicial order required by the investigation; that the human body is inviolable and any assault upon it is a crime punishable by law; that the rights and freedoms inherent to the person of the citizen admit neither suspension nor diminution; and that the State shall provide protection to victims, witnesses, defendants and whistleblowers.

The Egyptian Penal Code, however, has taken the path of discriminating between men and women in several places. For example, the penalty for adultery committed in the marital home is imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years for a woman found guilty of the crime, whereas a husband is punished for the same crime with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

The law likewise punishes a husband who kills his wife upon catching her in the act of adultery with imprisonment, instead of the penalties prescribed for intentional homicide or for causing death without intent to kill, while the law grants no such allowance to a woman. This is not a call for the commission of such crimes, which fall outside the scope of society's values, principles, traditions and prevailing customs; rather, it comes in the context of jurisprudential, scholarly, social and humanitarian study as well.

The law also distinguishes between men and women with regard to the power to suspend the execution of a sentence. It grants the husband the power to stop the execution of the sentence against his wife after she has been sentenced to imprisonment upon conviction for adultery, if he agrees to resume conjugal life with her, without granting the wife the same right of pardon where the husband commits that crime and is sentenced for it.

The law punishes the various forms of violence, with the exception of certain cases, such as the beating of wives under the guise of the right of discipline that some husbands exercise against their wives. Some hold that, although a husband is permitted to discipline his wife lightly for any wrongdoing for which no prescribed punishment has been laid down, he may not in any case beat her severely, severe beating being defined as that which affects the body and changes the colour of the skin, and that such discipline must be governed by the aim of reform and correction, which is consistent with the rationale for which it was established.

And although insult is criminalised and punishable by imprisonment, in practice women are often pressured into waiving their rights when the insult comes from the husband, even if it has wounded their feelings.

Consequently, such legal provisions against women do not merely entrench discrimination, violence and inequality against them; they also contravene the constitutional principles that prohibit discrimination on grounds of sex and provide that all are equal in rights and duties.

If the law has given the husband the power to stop the execution of the sentence against his wife for adultery should he wish to preserve the marital bond and family life, then, by a contrario reasoning, he has the right to arbitrarily restrict his wife's freedom on the basis of the judgment rendered against her, without a judicial order, if he does not pardon her, which conflicts with the provisions of the Constitution in this regard.

As for assaulting a wife by beating, under whatever name, it is not only an insult to women but an insult to human dignity. Such acts are unacceptable in any democratic society committed to the rule of law, because they are crimes that entrench notions of violence within the family and society as a whole, and this calls for criminalisation and punishment.

Therefore, society and the House of Representatives must consider abolishing the forms of legislative discrimination against women, and the State must protect women, even when they stand accused, in implementation of the Constitution, for she is the mother, the educator and the pillar of society. Her worth and humanity must not be degraded, so that children and future generations may be raised with at least a minimum of proper conduct and morals in their conscience. Egyptian women must be given full consideration, their true standing, and equality with men, in order to preserve the social fabric, values and morals.