Egypt's minister of population and family has warned that rising divorce rates were damaging society, the al-Masry al-Youm daily reported Thursday.
Moushira Khattab said divorce rates in the country had increased to "dangerous levels" and were threatening Egyptian society with "collapse."
Her statements were made during a workshop held at the National Center for Social and Criminal Studies in Cairo earlier this week, DPA reported.
At the event, she called for better laws to ensure gender equality and protect children. Khattab also spoke out against domestic violence.
In Egypt, where couples must marry under religious law, the divorce rate for Egyptians between the ages of 18 and 29 has risen to 40 per cent, according to a recent study published by the Center for Public Mobilization and Statics.
For the country's Muslim majority population, this means that Islamic shariah law is applied. Women's rights groups charge that this favours men.
The country's Coptic Christian minority falls under church rules, meaning remarriage is forbidden after divorce except in specific cases.
A law passed in 2000 granting Egyptian women the right to divorce their husbands without their consent - but in which wives forfeit all financial rights in a settlement - created a stir in the conservative country.
...