CAIRO — The Egyptian parliament passed a new Inheritance law Dec. 5 giving women their legitimate right to inheritance after the majority had been deprived of it, especially in Upper Egypt where cultural norms and traditions are ingrained with sexism.

Article 49 of the new law states that anyone who deliberately denies the heir, be it a man or a woman, their legal share of the inheritance or confiscates a document confirming this share shall be jailed for six months at least and be subject to a fine ranging between 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,122) at least and 100,000 pounds at most. In case of recidivism, the prison sentence shall be no less than one year.

Parliament approved the new law after the Cabinet, the National Council for Women (NCW) and civil associations submitted several draft laws in January 2016, December 2016 and September 2017, respectively, to amend the 1943 Inheritance law. Other bills were submitted by members of parliament also, including by parliamentarian Nadia Henry.

NCW Director Maya Morsi told Al-Monitor, “We reached 1.2 million women in rural and underprivileged areas in our ‘Tareq al-Abwab’ ['door-knocking'] campaign to familiarize women deprived of inheritance of their rights.”