Ahmed El Zendi, Egypt's Justice Minister, issued a legal decree that binds foreign men who plan to marry Egyptian women with a payment of LE50,000 if the age difference is more than 25 years.
The decision, which was announced through the country's official newspaper the Egyptian Gazette, was made to protect Egyptian women and ensure their financial stability in the case of divorce or death.
Azza Kamell, Founder of Egypt's Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development and leading women rights activist spoke to Ahram Online saying that this decree was created to "protect the rights of Egyptian women, along with addressing the issue of child marriage. "
However, while the decree may protect the financial stability of women, child marriages still needs to be further discussed in order to be properly eliminated.
"I still believe this is not enough to eliminate child marriage. There has to be some kind of guarantees,” Kamel said, adding that the age restriction imposed in the law is a problem because it covers "specific cases only."
Another leading Egyptian woman that criticized the degree is Gawaher al-Taher, a lawyer working closely with the Center for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance (CEWLA).
"The amendment has merely increased the price of the bride," Taher told Mada Masr .
Taher explained that CEWLA dealt with a number of cases concerning women who were married off and forced to work in prostitution abroad. Taher is no stranger to these kinds of cases as she, through tireless work, has been able to bring 70 Egyptian women back to their homeland that are now trying to get a divorce.
Nevertheless, some are supporting the legal decree. The Head of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights, Nahed Aboul Komsan, argues that the decree will now put off "foreign men who want to marry younger women for a 'couple of nights of pleasure'", according to Mada Masr .
Abould Komsan also stated that a payment is not enough and that the decree "must be higher."