Egypt's parliament under fire for controversial child custody bill
A proposed bill in Egypt’s parliament that would implement sweeping changes to laws concerning women has sparked outrage as women’s rights activists are calling for its immediate withdrawal.
According to women's rights activists in Egypt, a new child custody proposal being considered by the Egyptian parliament is a step backward and an affront to Egyptian women, particularly divorced mothers.
Female parliament member Soheir El-Hadi along with 60 parliamentarians have submitted a bill amending Egypt's Personal Status Law 25 of 1929, which regulates all issues related to family, including marriage, divorce and child custody. Hadi's amendments have targeted certain articles on child custody, stirring a hornet's nest of controversy among parliamentarians and citizens.
The potential law proposes that divorced fathers should have the right to host their children for two days every week if the mother has custody. Fathers will also have the right to spend a month of the school summer vacation with their children. According to the current law, divorced fathers can only see their children for three hours every week.
Another hotly debated article stipulates that if a divorced mother who has custody remarries, child custody will be shifted to the wife of the father if he has remarried. Under the current law, if a divorced mother remarries, child custody is appointed to her mother, her mother-in-law or a sister. However, after several days of public outrage, Hadi released a press statement stressing that the draft law does not include this article.
