Egyptian women fight for inheritance rights

Courts hear 144,000 cases related to disputes over inheritances annually

Nadia Hassan should be a millionaire. However, when her son needed a life-saving heart operation, she had to sell all her jewellery to pay for it.

“My father died in leaving behind seven [2.8 hectares] and three apartment blocks in Alexandria,” says Nadia, a 54-year-old schoolteacher.

“My brothers have refused to give me my inheritance share,” she told Gulf News.

“Every now and then, they gave me some money, telling me that I should be satisfied. So, 2007, five years ago I took my case to the court. So far, there has been no ruling,” adds the mother of three, whose husband died last year.

Nadia is one of millions of Egyptian women who face difficulty in securing their share of the inheritance. This occurs mainly in the countryside, where education levels are low.

“It is a common belief in my village that women are not entitled to inheritance,” says Radwa Salah, a 27-year-old housewife living in the Delta province of Sharqia.

“People here feel inheritance should not go to strangers, meaning the woman’s husband, even though under Shariah law, daughters are entitled to a set portion.” More than 60 per cent of Egyptian women have been denied their inheritance, according to independent studies.

Around 95 per cent of that figure is thought to be in maledominated Upper Egypt.

Egyptian courts hear around 144,000 inheritance dispute cases a year.

Women who dare approach the court face a backlash from their families.

Last year, the government approved a draft law making deprivation from inheritance an offence punishable by six months in prison.

The parliament has pass the bill into law.

Recently, Tunisian President Beji Qaid Al Sebsi proposed equal inheritance rights for women.

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