The Patriarchal Bargain and Intergenerational Coresidence in Egypt

Abstract

This article examines variation in intergenerational coresidence among older women and men in Egypt using data from the WHO Collaborative Study on the Social and Health Aspects of Aging. Residence with sons and daughters-in-law is preferred, although residence with daughters and sons-in-law occurs because patrilocal endogamy is common. Whereas residence with sons and daughters declines with age among men, it declines then increases with age among women. Residence with sons-in-law is uncommon among older men and becomes more frequent with age among older women. Findings support the idea that women's exchange of kin-keeping tasks for protection from kin gives older women greater access to normative and alternative forms of intergenerational coresidence, even after accounting for differences in need.