Abstract
This article investigates gender implications of judicial activism within the context of the 2011 revolution. Relying on analysis of a sample of judicial decisions in the field of divorce and child-rearing, I argue that individual judges used the family courts as a platform to articulate alternative legal discourses prior to the 2011 revolution. During the period between February 2011 and the military coup in July 2013 family legislation emerged as a controversial point. The period witnessed the mobilisation of small but vocal fathers’ rights groups that called for a revolution in Egyptian family law and formed strategic alliances with a handful of judges. The latter became members of a legislative committee formed under the presidency of Muhammad Mursi. I investigate the gender implications of their activism against a background where old and new actors and institutions competed over the right to interpret shari’a in an authoritative way.
Highlights
In the period between the ouster of former President Husni Mubarak in February 2011 and the forced removal of his successor Muhammad Mursi in July 2013 Muslim family law emerged as a contentious issue
In the first part I highlight two functions performed by Egyptian family courts
This article has highlighted two functions performed by Egyptian family courts
Summary
In the period between the ouster of former President Husni Mubarak in February 2011 and the forced removal of his successor Muhammad Mursi in July 2013 Muslim family law emerged as a contentious issue. They articulated new notions of child rearing which accorded the father a more prominent place through the promotion of joint care after divorce My focus on these alternative discourses is further justified by events after the ouster of Mubarak when judges participated in public debate and became members of the above-mentioned legislative committee. At another level of analysis, the article’s second part analyses their activism against a background in which old and new actors and institutions competed over the right to interpret shari’a in an authoritative way following the 2011 revolution. The discussions which took place within the above-mentioned legislative committee provide a window on the dynamics of gender politics at a historical juncture characterised by social and political upheaval
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