Four Women Killed by Husbands in One Week Spotlight Egypt’s Femicide Crisis
This article was co-published with Egab.
In Egypt, a single week in August witnessed four femicides committed by husbands, underscoring a systemic crisis that has activists, legal experts and families demanding urgent action.
That week, a man in Alexandria set fire to his wife, Eman, 40, and her sister, Sharifa, 25, in front of his two daughters, aged 13 and 11. Both women died in the hospital from severe burns. Days prior, in the same city, judo player Dina Alaa was shot three times by her husband, a police officer, killing her instantly. Another housewife was murdered by her husband soon after, who alleged her "crime" was that her arm had been exposed while she was hanging laundry on their balcony.
These cases reflect a disturbing pattern across Egypt, where femicide rates have surged dramatically. According to a report published in February by the Edraak Foundation for Development and Equality, documented 363 cases of women and girls killed in 2024, which is at par with what was documented in 2023, but signals a sharp rise from femicides documented in 2022 (202) and 2020 (165). Of these femicides, 77 were carried out by the victims’ husbands, reportedly over financial disputes, a wife’s refusal of sexual relations, or arguments concerning the wife wanting to work.
Lawyer and gender researcher Ahmed Abu El-Magd said defense attorneys often recast wife killings as “quarrels” that ended in “beating leading to death.” That framing can drop a sentence to just seven years, compared to life in prison or the death penalty for premeditated murder.
“The problem is not only about reduced sentences or legal loopholes. We are facing a societal crisis rooted in toxic masculinity that raises men to believe that women are their property — something they paid for and purchased to serve them, forgetting that she is a human being with a mind and needs,” Abu El-Magd told More to Her Story.
The Arab world’s most populous country has seen its local currency lose more than 70 percent of its value over the past decade. At the same time, reports of domestic violence against women have surged. According to official figures, inflation rates have ballooned from around 5.7% in April 2020 to 38% in 2023, with rates steadily declining since. Today, inflation rates remain at 12% as of August — nearly double what it was five years ago.
“We must not overlook the economic crisis, which has left many men unable to meet their families’ needs,” said Abu El-Magd, noting that men in Egypt are often the sole breadwinners of their families. “This leads some men either to commit suicide or, in certain cases, to kill their wives and children,” he said.
“Many women are forced to take unsafe jobs because household needs far exceed income,” said Nora Mohamed, who is director of a program to combat violence against women at the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights. Society, she added, “has normalized blaming the victim and excusing the abuser.”
Reda, a 43-year-old mother of two, was stabbed to death by her ex-husband in August after a court ordered him to pay modest child and spousal support. He attacked her in front of her mother and daughters, then turned himself in, reportedly telling onlookers he expected to serve only 15 years in prison.
“Her blood still covers the house. We can't bring ourselves to clean it,” Mazen Shaaban, Reda's cousin, told More to Her Story. The murder took place after Reda had repeatedly complained to her mother about her husband’s violent outbursts, only to be advised by her mother to endure the abuse and preserve her family for the sake of her kids.
Normalized violence in marginalized communities
According to Mohamed, most husbands who commit abuse and violence against their wives see no fault in their actions.
“Very few abusive husbands admit their mistakes. Instead, they demand that their wives not provoke them, as if she were responsible for his violence,” Mohamed explained. “What fuels abuse is the constant justification by families and society, who dismiss her suffering as spoiled behavior or accuse her of trying to strip her husband of his manhood.”
In Boulaq al-Dakrour, one of Giza’s most crowded districts, Mohamed said awareness sessions are often met with hostility from residents.
“Women are expected to endure abuse silently,” she told More to Her Story.
Basic rights such as leaving the house, working, or visiting family are seen as "privileges" granted by the husband, she noted. Reported cases include beatings, bruises, forced head-shaving, burns, and even tying up women to humiliate them. Women have survived strangulation attempts or knife attacks, often saved only by children's cries, neighbors' intervention, or fleeing into the street.
Digital age amplifies violence
Dr. Samia Kadry, a sociology professor at Ain Shams University, identifies social media as a key factor behind today's surge in violence against women. "The spread of violent content — gruesome murders, beheadings — has normalized bloodshed. At the same time, social media encourages people to flaunt exaggerated images of their private lives, creating deception and fueling frustration," she explained
Echoing a similar opinion, Intissar El-Saeed, who is a lawyer at the Court of Cassation and chairwoman of the non-governmental Cairo Foundation for Development and Law (CFDL), said that femicides are not “isolated incidents” but symptoms of a systemic culture of violence and discrimination that devalues women's lives.
El-Saeed explained that, when women report abuse or threats to CFDL, the foundation provides legal aid, files police reports, and in cases of repeated violence, works to relocate them to Ministry of Social Solidarity shelters.
“Our role is to help women transition from victims into survivors, equipped with legal and psychological tools of support.”
Yet, she noted that there is only so much they can do. “These murders are alarm bells. The state and society must take responsibility for protecting women before they become victims,” El-Saeed said.