Egypt’s Bedouin shepherdesses deprived of women's rights

Every day at 4:00 A.M., a group of two or three veiled women in Egypt leave their homes to lead and shepherd a flock of sheep in the streets of southern Cairo.

Om Z. and her daughters or her friend tour the streets with their flock of sheep for 10 to 12 hours daily, pasturing the sheep on piles of garbage rather than grass until they sell the animals to traders, especially ahead of Eid Al-Adha, the Muslim holiday of the sacrifice. This is the daily life of Bedouin shepherdesses, who are relatively unknown to most people.

Speaking to Jusoor Post, the ladies clarified that they have no specific piece of land they stay on, but rather they go anywhere they find paper and food waste at small dump areas because sheep fodder is costly. Om Z., a widow and mother of three children (a son and two daughters), said that they have no alternative income, and taking care of the sheep is unprofitable. She refused to reveal her daily income.

Egypt’s Bedouin shepherds live in closed communities across Egypt. Some of them are residents among local people, while others pasture their livestock in mountainous areas, especially in the cities located on the outskirts of Cairo. Unfortunately, there are no statistics available on the number of their community.

Despite the fact that pasturing flocks of sheep is not easy and an unprofitable task, Om Z. and her friend Hamida, a pseudonym because the Bedouin ladies refused to reveal their identities, are proud of their job, which they inherited from their parents and ancestors.

“We inherited this job from our grandparents, and our lineage goes back to Saudi Arabia. We still have relatives in Saudi Arabia,” said Hamida proudly, adding that shepherding was the job of the prophets, especially the Prophet Muhammad and Prophet Moses.

Tough economic crisis

Taking about their livelihood, Hamida, a mother of six girls, complained about the increasing prices of commodities, revealing that her monthly pension is only 450 EGP, which is not enough to live on, so working as a shepherdess helps her improve her income.

Hamida is considered the breadwinner of her family, because her husband is a migrant worker and his income is seasonal. “He sometimes works a day and stays at home for 10 days,” she said.

“The economic crisis is very tough. See for how much one kilo of sugar or rice is sold?  People are getting tired. We are not public employees [who have a fixed monthly salary], and our income is daily,” she continued.

Hamida added that shepherdesses often pasture sheep for other people and take monthly fees, with an average of 25-50 EGP per one sheep, and if any goat or sheep dies, they bear the responsibility.

As for educating her daughters, Hamida finds it difficult to bear the cost of education. She said that she asked a private teacher to educate her daughter for less money, but he refused, telling her, “It is not my problem. Let her stay at home with you.” She added that private educational centers also take money for chairs on which students sit, with one chair being booked for 3 EGP.

Egypt has been suffering a deep economic crisis due to a shortage in hard currency in a society that depends heavily on imports, which has resulted in increasing inflation rates. According to data from the state-owned Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on December 10, the annual inflation rate for consumer prices in Egypt’s cities reached 34.6% in November. 

Deprived rights by norms

Due to cultural norms, the Bedouin community is closed, and women never marry anyone from outside this community. Girls only get married to cousins or other male relatives.

“Unfortunately, there are well-educated girls in our community who refuse marriage because their male relatives are less educated than them,” said Hamida, adding that one of her female relatives, who is 34 years old and graduated from the faculty of law, had rejected getting married to her illiterate cousins. 

“One of them is a doorman, while the second is a truck driver, and another one is a butcher,” Hamida explained, adding that her female relative questions how she could marry an illiterate person after having spent several years studying.

“I have six girls, and those who ask for their hands in marriage are slackers or drug addicts,” continued Hamida, adding, “I treated [my daughters] unfairly in their education but will not treat them unfairly in their marriage. So, it is better for them to be unmarried and stay with me [rather than get married to inappropriate persons].”

Additionally, when it comes to entering the job market, Bedouin women are deprived of working as lawyers, teachers or any other job except shepherding, both Hamida and Om Z. said.

“My daughters have not been educated. They only learnt how to write their names,” Hamida said, adding that her “eldest daughter has the talent of drawing, and when a teacher found out that she has a passion to learn, he offered to be financially responsible for her education but her father refused.”

“Even if the girls were educated, they are not allowed to enter the job market. This is selfishness by men, and we say that there is injustice towards women in our communities,” Hamida said.