Living Arrangements of Older Women and Men in Egypt

Kathryn M. Yount, Emory University

INTRODUCTION The family has been and continues to be the central source of support for most Egyptians, and this heritage is grounded in cultural and religious norms as well as in the economic practicalities of kinship ties (see Thornton and Fricke 1987). Co-residence in particular has been a major mechanism by which families have met the various needs of older adults in settings like Egypt, where public support for older adults is still in its early stages of development (e.g. Martin 1989). Yet, rapid social and economic change in Egypt and persistent inequities in the distribution of family resources have had important implications for the extent to which families can adhere to normative patterns of inter-generational co-residence. The family life cycle and co-residence with older adults Like many countries in Southeast Asia (e.g., Mason 1992), families in Egypt are patriarchal insofar as lineage is recorded through men, married men are usually the designated heads of family, sons often assume family headship at the death of their fathers, and parents often reside with married sons (see Aykan and Wolf (2000), Aytac (1998), and Shah et al. (in press) for research on the living arrangements of older adults in Turkey and Kuwait, respectively). Well-established norms also prescribe a specific life cycle of intergenerational co-residence (Nawar et al. 1995). First, children usually continue to reside in the homes of their parents until they have secured the necessary resources to marry (Singerman and Ibrahim 2000). A new couple establishes an independent household at the dukhla, or the night during the proceedings of the marriage at which joint residence takes place (Nawar et al. 1994, 1995). Widespread adherence to this ideal would be reflected at the population level in declines in co-residence with unmarried children with increasing age of parents. Later in the lifecycle of the family, parents may resume residence with a married son, particularly when they require more daily financial assistance, when one spouse passes away, or when their health declines and they require more assistance with activities of daily living, which a married sons’ wife often provides (reference). At this stage, sufficient wealth may also enable older adults to accommodate the extended family in the same, adjacent, or clustered residential units (Khadr 1997). Widespread adherence to this ideal would be reflected at the population level in increasing co-residence with married sons with increasing age of parents. Like some settings in South and Southeast Asia (e.g., Dyson and Moore 1983), families in Egypt generally expect the main duties of a daughter to shift to her husband and husband’s family (e.g., Mernissi 1987; Morsy 1990, 1993; Rugh 1984; Yount 1999). At the same time, the custom of patrilocal, endogamous marriage reflects the norm that daughters should maintain strong ties with their parents and other biological kin, and the practice itself provides the opportunity for daughters to fulfill such obligations (see also Aykan and Wolf 2000; Rugh 1984). Earlier studies of older adults in Egypt suggest that daughters frequently visit their parents and provide considerable assistance with activities of daily living (Andrews 1998; Khadr 1997; Yount 1999). Because forms of assistance from married daughters do not customarily include co-residence, however, one would expect residence with daughters to decline with increasing age of parents as daughters marry and establish households with their husbands. At the same time, the expectation that daughters should continue to support their parents after marriage provides older adults with an alternative to normative living arrangements when sons are not available (Thornton and Fricke 1987). Constraints on the normative cycle of inter-generational co-residence Some researchers have argued that certain aspects of “modernization” have enabled young couples to fulfill the ideal of establishing a separate household at marriage. In urban and rural areas, declines in the prevalence of extended living arrangements and increases in the prevalence of nuclear families have been observed, with the latter living arrangement accounting for 84 percent of households nationally in the early 1990s (Nawar et al. 1994, 1995). Researchers attribute this trend to higher educational levels and higher standards of living that have enabled young couples to purchase their privacy (Nawar et al. 1994:18; Nawar et al. 1995). More recently, a reversal of this trend has occurred. The 2000 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey, for example, shows higher rates of extended family living in urban and rural areas (31 percent of urban residents and 44 percent of rural residents) (see Singerman and Ibrahim 2000), and Singerman and Ibrahim (2000) attribute this reversal in part to the increasing costs of the customary requirements for marriage, which include the purchase of separate housing by the groom’s family. Economic constraints on marriage may disrupt the normative lifecycle of inter-generational co-residence by (1) delaying marriage and extending the duration of parental co-residence with (dependent) unmarried children or (2) choosing to reside with the groom’s parents in order to marry and thereby extending the duration of parental co-residence with (dependent) married children. Variation in the “demand” for inter-generational co-residence by gender of older adults In addition to the economic constraints that affect patterns of home-leaving among young adults in Egypt, the demand for co-residence is likely to be greater among older women than older men for several reasons. First, older Egyptian women live 2–3 years longer on average than do older Egyptian men (USCB, IDB), so the duration of women’s exposure to the “risk” of co-residence with married children is longer than that for men. Second, Muslim Egyptians recognize, according to the Qur'an, that women are allowed to inherit half as much as male relatives of the same degree of relation to a deceased family member, and women often inherit less than their legal share in practice because a woman is assumed to have access to the land and assets of her husband (Morsy 1978). Persistent de jure and de facto inequity in the distribution of inheritance makes older women disproportionately dependent on the financial resources of their sons. Third, the provision of public support for older adults through retirement pensions was until the 1990s restricted to former governmental employees, and survivors’ benefits continue to be a small percentage of only a fraction of the spouse’s (usually the husband’s) former wages. Therefore, the demand for co-residence is likely to continue to be greater among older women than men until the distribution of economic resources within the family becomes more equitable or until other public or private institutions provide viable (socially acceptable) forms of long-term care for older women. In the absence of such changes, women’s greater demand for co-residence likely makes them more frequent users of normative patterns of co-residence (e.g., residence with a married son) and more accepting of alternative patterns of co-residence when they are necessary (e.g., residence with a married daughter in the absence of a son). Using data from the World Health Organization Collaborative Study on Social and Health Aspects of Aging, which was conducted around 1990 in selected countries in North Africa and West Asia (Andrews, 1998), I examine four questions that pertain to the living arrangements of older adults in Egypt. First, I compare the living arrangements of older (aged 60 years and over) Egyptian women and men to assess whether patterns of co-residence with increasing age differ by gender. I examine differences by gender in the prevalence of co-residence with sons and daughters generally, and because living with married sons continues to be a norm in Egypt, I compare the prevalence of co-residence with married sons and married daughters specifically. Second, I examine the association of indicators of “parental” and “child” need with normative and alternative co-residential arrangements among older Egyptian women and men to examine the extent to which the needs of older versus younger generations motivate particular kinds of co-residence. Third, I weigh the extent to which differences in the patterns and predictors of intergenerational co-residence among older women and men are indicative of recent socio-economic changes or persistent inequities by gender in the distribution of economic resources within the family. Finally, I discuss the potential implications of findings for policy regarding the support of older adults in Egypt. (word count 1344)