Well, i am back to life! i have spent the last two days tremendously sick: neck and back pain, stomach ache, nausea, vomits, headache, fever...I do not know exactly what it caused it, maybe an insect in my tea, maybe the tap water or, as one of my friends suggested, an airborne virus. In any case , after a 18 hours session in bed, i feel great and i am eating like an animal again.
Last Friday i had a very long conversation with Khaled and Bahz about some social realities and customs in Egypt. Making an effort to compile some of the most shocking wages i found that:
-Engineer makes between £40/month and £80/month,
-Medicine doctor working in a public hospital makes £17/month,
-Medicine doctor in a private hospital £40/month,
-Lawyer £10/month (but as i heard lawyers work for free many times, so many they are...for example the Pizza guy from the corner of my street is a lawyer!),
-Accountant £10/month,
-Teacher £10/month,
- and finally, Government Ministers £1500/month!!!
...never mind stating the wages non-graduate jobs
Keep in mind those figures, now i will describe the requirements that the father of the bride will impose to any man that want to marry one of their daughters (traditional Egyptian customs, they are still widely followed). Note that these figures vary according to the class and education level of the bride, the ones stated are average ones:
0. Education (at least as good as the education of the bride) and sometimes all the older sisters of the groom have to get married before him.
1. Permanent job (contract job many times not accepted, i heard of a case of a guy that had to drop a job in the UN to get married because it was not permanent)
2. Owning a house or flat (rented house is not valid in most cases): as a reference the cost of a flat in the outskirts in Alex is £10000
3. Mahar (dote) is the money has to be given to the father of the bride between £1000-£3000
4. Gold for the bride, around £1500
5. Wedding and honeymoon costs: £1500 + £1000. Obviously these figures vary depending on the size of the family, but they are generally quite large.
6. All electrical appliances for the house
7. Furniture of the whole house, except the kitchen
And what the woman has to get for the marriage?
1. The furniture of the kitchen (normally bought with the Mahar)
How does anybody gets married at all taking into account their wages? By the way, my housemate Badry intends to get married next year: donations are welcome :P
Last Friday i had a very long conversation with Khaled and Bahz about some social realities and customs in Egypt. Making an effort to compile some of the most shocking wages i found that:
-Engineer makes between £40/month and £80/month,
-Medicine doctor working in a public hospital makes £17/month,
-Medicine doctor in a private hospital £40/month,
-Lawyer £10/month (but as i heard lawyers work for free many times, so many they are...for example the Pizza guy from the corner of my street is a lawyer!),
-Accountant £10/month,
-Teacher £10/month,
- and finally, Government Ministers £1500/month!!!
...never mind stating the wages non-graduate jobs
Keep in mind those figures, now i will describe the requirements that the father of the bride will impose to any man that want to marry one of their daughters (traditional Egyptian customs, they are still widely followed). Note that these figures vary according to the class and education level of the bride, the ones stated are average ones:
0. Education (at least as good as the education of the bride) and sometimes all the older sisters of the groom have to get married before him.
1. Permanent job (contract job many times not accepted, i heard of a case of a guy that had to drop a job in the UN to get married because it was not permanent)
2. Owning a house or flat (rented house is not valid in most cases): as a reference the cost of a flat in the outskirts in Alex is £10000
3. Mahar (dote) is the money has to be given to the father of the bride between £1000-£3000
4. Gold for the bride, around £1500
5. Wedding and honeymoon costs: £1500 + £1000. Obviously these figures vary depending on the size of the family, but they are generally quite large.
6. All electrical appliances for the house
7. Furniture of the whole house, except the kitchen
And what the woman has to get for the marriage?
1. The furniture of the kitchen (normally bought with the Mahar)
How does anybody gets married at all taking into account their wages? By the way, my housemate Badry intends to get married next year: donations are welcome :P
2 comments:
A couple points before going to the meat:
1. Is is not impossible (even though i couldnt believe it as well...thats why i posted it),
this is the money that my house mate (and others i have spoken with and i work with have corroborated...ejem with women too) is saving for getting married next years...so the answer is YES, it is true.
2. As u wondered (and as you could have read in my post if more careful) the figures stated
vary and are dependent on the economical and class level.
Now lets go to the meat as apparently i was not very clear in my position with respect to this particular issue (i thought it was obvious). I agree with every point made by you, as i assume everybody is familiar regarding the inequalities and suffering of women around the world (not only restricted to certain regions! in Spain it was LEGAL to kill your wife until 1955, and still many women a year die there under the hands of boyfriends, husbands and exes). Thats exactly why i highlighted this: the man can be
oppressed TOO by a social system that we all might assume purely machist, just because they are (JUSTIFIEDLY) overshadowed by the situation of women. I simply found it curious and paradoxical.
You are very aware of the situation of women, but maybe not of bloggers in Egypt(like me): fifteen bloggers are in jail in Egypt without a trial because of discussions like this (and others of the sort). This is a personal blog to comment on little funny stories and curiosities i am finding out in my visit here, not a political or human rights forum. So please refrain for further comment of this nature in order to help me keeping out of trouble.
Yours sincerely
nono
PS:i deleted the machismo comment as is now clear that some people might misunderstand my opinion and it can offend them. Please accept my most sincere apologises.
well - don't know how to say it nono but it is NOT that hard in here pal !
these figures u r talking about is for fresh graduates with no practical experience at all - few years later the same engineer who started with £60/month will be earning around £300/month & even more if he's doing well as an engineer !
with such a low cost life like the one we are having here in Egypt, this fellow will be able to save up to £3000/year so to get a flat for example he'll pay this figure in advance & have the rest paid on monthly parts for like 5 years (consider it a rent fee) = almost £116/month or he might wait for another year & pay only £67/month !
people DO get marry here - they just take some time ...
please compare a marriage time plan here in egypt to anyone there at spain & u'll find lot's in comman !!!
anyway - u r always welcomed to our beloved Egypt
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