Gold hikes dim marriage lustre in Egypt
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 4:11 am
Campaign calling on girls’ families to reconsider their demand for gold marriage gifts launched.
Nader Bakr, a pharmacist, had to shelve his plan to propose to a girl in his local neighbourhood in Cairo due to an unprecedented surge in prices of gold in recent weeks.
“I managed to save around 15,000 pounds to buy the shabka [a gold engagement gift] and offer it to the girl whom I decided to marry,” starts the 27-year-old man.
“But much to my back luck, the gold price last week reached 460 pounds per gram, an increase that means my savings can only buy 30 grams. The family of the girl insists that the shabka for her should not be less than 50 grams,” he adds.
“There was no other option than postponing the engagement party and the marriage plan until I can save enough money to buy the required gold amount. I am afraid that by the time I have collected this money, prices of gold will have further gone up,” Bakr says despairingly.
In recent weeks, prices of several items, including gold, have increased in Egypt due to an all-time low of the local pound against the dollar on the thriving black market.
Egypt has been facing an acute shortage in foreign currency revenues blamed on the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising. A team from the International Monetary Fund is currently in Egypt for talks on supporting its troubled economy with a 12-billion-dollar loan programme over three years.
The spike in gold prices has hit in summer, traditionally a peak season for engagement and wedding ceremonies in Egypt. Prices of the precious metal, a source of social pride and a major saving pool, have increased by more than 70 per cent in the past three years.
Online activists have launched several campaigns calling on girls’ families to reconsider their demand for gold marriage gifts.
“The time has come for our people to give up traditions that oblige young men to buy an expensive shabka for their fiancees,” says Hossam Abdul Hadi, a member of a campaign called “No to Gold”.
“Our campaign is aimed at alleviating the burden on young people and reducing the costs of marriage,” he adds. “One proposal is that families of the bride and the groom agree to register the value of the shabka in the marriage contract as being an entitlement of the girl, but without compelling the groom to buy it before engagement or marriage.”
Another option, according to Abdul Hadi who is a 28-year-old unmarried engineer, is to replace gold with silver in marriage gifts.
Many girls have enthusiastically welcomed the anti-gold campaigns.
“Neither a big gold gift nor expensive furniture guarantees a happy marriage,” says Nehal Fekry, a female student in business administration.
“What matters most is that both partners to the marriage share the same understanding and outlook on life,” adds the 21-year-old girl. In her view, the engagement gift is “something symbolic that can be silver or even wood.”
Nehal, however, believes that deeply rooted community traditions are a major obstacle.
“Despite the horrible rise in gold prices, some families, especially in the countryside, demand the youth proposing to their girls to buy large amounts of gold that may exceed 100 grams,” she says. “This places a burden on men and makes it difficult for them to get married while they are still young.”
Nearly 9 million Egyptians at the age of 33, half of them women, are not married, according to 2011 official figures.
The problem is believed to have worsened due to the country’s economic woes since the 2011 revolt. Unemployment rates in Egypt reached 12.8 per cent in 2015, according to official figures.
In an attempt to reduce costs of the gold marriage gifts, jewellery shops in Egypt have recently featured items of low gold carats that sell at inexpensive prices.
“This can be an alternative to the other expensive gold carats,” said Nadi Najuib, who heads the goldsmiths section at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.
“However, demand for the low-gold carats is very weak because Egyptians favour gold items of the [more expensive] 18 and 21 carats,” Najuib told private newspaper Al Watan.
“Changing traditions related to gold marriage gifts requires public awareness campaigns.”
Source: http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/egypt/gol ... -1.1871791
Nader Bakr, a pharmacist, had to shelve his plan to propose to a girl in his local neighbourhood in Cairo due to an unprecedented surge in prices of gold in recent weeks.
“I managed to save around 15,000 pounds to buy the shabka [a gold engagement gift] and offer it to the girl whom I decided to marry,” starts the 27-year-old man.
“But much to my back luck, the gold price last week reached 460 pounds per gram, an increase that means my savings can only buy 30 grams. The family of the girl insists that the shabka for her should not be less than 50 grams,” he adds.
“There was no other option than postponing the engagement party and the marriage plan until I can save enough money to buy the required gold amount. I am afraid that by the time I have collected this money, prices of gold will have further gone up,” Bakr says despairingly.
In recent weeks, prices of several items, including gold, have increased in Egypt due to an all-time low of the local pound against the dollar on the thriving black market.
Egypt has been facing an acute shortage in foreign currency revenues blamed on the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising. A team from the International Monetary Fund is currently in Egypt for talks on supporting its troubled economy with a 12-billion-dollar loan programme over three years.
The spike in gold prices has hit in summer, traditionally a peak season for engagement and wedding ceremonies in Egypt. Prices of the precious metal, a source of social pride and a major saving pool, have increased by more than 70 per cent in the past three years.
Online activists have launched several campaigns calling on girls’ families to reconsider their demand for gold marriage gifts.
“The time has come for our people to give up traditions that oblige young men to buy an expensive shabka for their fiancees,” says Hossam Abdul Hadi, a member of a campaign called “No to Gold”.
“Our campaign is aimed at alleviating the burden on young people and reducing the costs of marriage,” he adds. “One proposal is that families of the bride and the groom agree to register the value of the shabka in the marriage contract as being an entitlement of the girl, but without compelling the groom to buy it before engagement or marriage.”
Another option, according to Abdul Hadi who is a 28-year-old unmarried engineer, is to replace gold with silver in marriage gifts.
Many girls have enthusiastically welcomed the anti-gold campaigns.
“Neither a big gold gift nor expensive furniture guarantees a happy marriage,” says Nehal Fekry, a female student in business administration.
“What matters most is that both partners to the marriage share the same understanding and outlook on life,” adds the 21-year-old girl. In her view, the engagement gift is “something symbolic that can be silver or even wood.”
Nehal, however, believes that deeply rooted community traditions are a major obstacle.
“Despite the horrible rise in gold prices, some families, especially in the countryside, demand the youth proposing to their girls to buy large amounts of gold that may exceed 100 grams,” she says. “This places a burden on men and makes it difficult for them to get married while they are still young.”
Nearly 9 million Egyptians at the age of 33, half of them women, are not married, according to 2011 official figures.
The problem is believed to have worsened due to the country’s economic woes since the 2011 revolt. Unemployment rates in Egypt reached 12.8 per cent in 2015, according to official figures.
In an attempt to reduce costs of the gold marriage gifts, jewellery shops in Egypt have recently featured items of low gold carats that sell at inexpensive prices.
“This can be an alternative to the other expensive gold carats,” said Nadi Najuib, who heads the goldsmiths section at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.
“However, demand for the low-gold carats is very weak because Egyptians favour gold items of the [more expensive] 18 and 21 carats,” Najuib told private newspaper Al Watan.
“Changing traditions related to gold marriage gifts requires public awareness campaigns.”
Source: http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/egypt/gol ... -1.1871791
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