Social media users gave mixed reactions to the talk of officials in Egypt about the state’s intention to collect a sum of money – which has not yet been announced – from those about to get married to finance a fund called the Family Support Fund, whose task is to take care of children in the event that there is no financial support from the spouses due to disagreements or divorce.
The talk about the fund, which will be called the “Egyptian Family Support Fund,” came when President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi announced amendments to the Personal Status Law, during the opening of projects this week.
Minister of Justice Omar Marwan said, during the meeting in which Sisi spoke, that the draft law – which is currently undergoing final touches before it is presented to the prime minister and then parliament – will include the establishment of a fund to which the government will contribute as much as married couples will contribute.
Egypt has provided support to families for years, but this has led to an increase in burdens and debts on the country, which is currently suffering from an economic crisis caused by inflation resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian war and the flight of dollars that the country needs to pay off its debts and import most of its needs.
A number of Egyptians commented on the fund on social media platforms that it increases the burdens of marriage, whose cost is already rising amid a sharp rise in prices.
But other users praised the move.
Ali Ismail said in a Facebook post that he supports the new fund.
“Why am I with the Family Support Fund? Because people go to make weddings in a hall and film a session as well, and all of this costs at least 30,000 Egyptian pounds at least,” he said.
“This is money that is wasted and when the couple gets divorced the husband does not give money to the wife or his children,” he added.
The government is still working on a new draft personal status law, features of which were published by presidential spokesman Bassam Rady, including the creation of an insurance policy to support the family and the abolition of the multiplicity of laws regulating personal status as well as granting powers to the judges to deal with urgent cases of family problems.
The draft law also aims to introduce measures to reduce divorce, preserve the share of both husband and wife in the common wealth that was formed during marriage, and document divorce to reduce the phenomenon of verbal divorce.
Data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics indicate that divorce cases in Egypt have doubled over the past 10 years, to 254,800 cases in 2021, from 151,900 cases in 2011.
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