Egyptian Made: Women, Work, and the Promise of Liberation

by Leslie T. Chang

An incisive exploration of women and work, showing how globalization’s promise of liberation instead set the stage for repression—from the acclaimed author of Factory Girls

What happens to the women who choose to work in a country struggling to reconcile a traditional culture with the demands of globalization? In this sharply drawn portrait of Egyptian society—deepened by two years of immersive reporting—Leslie T. Chang follows three women as they persevere in a country that throws up obstacles to their progress at every step, from dramatic swings in economic policy to conservative marriage expectations and a failing education system.

Working in Egypt’s centuries-old textile industry, Riham is a shrewd businesswoman who nevertheless struggles to attract workers to her garment factory and to compete in the global marketplace. Rania, who works on a factory assembly line, attempts to climb to a management rank but is held back by conflicts with co-workers and the humiliation of an unhappy marriage. Her colleague Doaa, meanwhile, pursues an education and independence but sacrifices access to her own children in order to get a divorce.

Alongside these stories, Chang shares her own experiences living and working in Egypt for five years, seeing through her own eyes the risks and prejudices that working women continue to face. She also weaves in the history of Egypt’s vaunted textile industry, its colonization and independence, a century of political upheaval, and the history of Islam in Egypt, all of which shaped the country as it is today and the choices available to Riham, Rania, and Doaa. Following each woman’s story from home and work, Chang powerfully observes the near-impossible balancing act that Egyptian women strike every day.

Genres: Nonfiction, Egypt, History, Africa, Feminism, Womens, Middle East

368 pages, Hardcover

First published March 12, 2024

About the author

Leslie T. Chang lived in China for a decade as a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, specializing in stories that explored how socioeconomic change is transforming institutions and individuals. She has also written for National Geographic. Factory Girls is her first book.

A graduate of Harvard University with a degree in American History and Literature, Chang has also worked as a journalist in the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. She was raised outside New York City by immigrant parents who forced her to attend Saturday-morning Chinese school, for which she is now grateful.

She is married to Peter Hessler, who also writes about China. She lives in Colorado.

Reviews

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

An interesting look into the work and home lives of Egyptian women, by an author mostly interested in factory work. I liked Factory Girls, which focused on the lives of a few young women in Dongguan, and this book draws fascinating comparisons between the lives of Chinese and Egyptian workers, while asking the question: why hasn’t globalization liberated women in Egypt, as it has other places? The answer is multifaceted, including the economy (China’s has been strong enough to reward risk-taking, Egypt’s hasn’t), the culture (Chang sees a particular tendency in Egypt to retrench into the family in tough times), and the geography. Chinese young people tend to move to distant cities for work and can only return home once a year, thus quickly shedding familial limitations, while Egyptian workers commute from their family homes. But it adds up to Egyptian women’s incomes winning them no new authority in their families, while Chinese women’s roles are transformed.

The book presents a bleak picture for the average Egyptian woman: often married off in her teens (apparently in part to stave off potential sexual encounters within the family! Significant numbers of Egyptians still feel safer marrying relatives, though studies indicate these women wind up with slightly less say on average in their new household), to a man who inevitably wants her to stay home. Not just to not work, but apparently to stay home all the time: women Chang interviewed about their activities when not working tended to report “doing nothing.” Divorce is becoming more accessible, but is still stigmatized and tends to require giving up property and even children.

Interestingly, Chang traces Egypt’s history and argues that the last 150 years or so are as bad as women have ever had it: pharaonic records show a third of all property being owned by women at some points, while even after the Arab conquest, complaints about women in public places prove just how present they were. And the sharia law we think of today is an especially conservative version imposed during British rule, which actually removed the longstanding Islamic practice of no-fault divorce for women willing to relinquish property claims. Unfortunately, changing the laws in place now runs into fierce opposition from the conservative, male establishment.

Chang’s look at how women resist is also fascinating. In many cases, those who stand up to their families succeed, but subterfuge helps too (as in the case of the woman who got a job while her father was away, then when he returned and objected, successfully argued “well, I have it now so I might as well do it”). However, the outlook for the unconventional woman is bleak, particularly given the poor state of education for most Egyptians. One factory worker is described as trapped, “like the heroine of an Edith Wharton novel”: “unwilling to accept the socially prescribed role of wife and mother but unfit for anything else. She valued her liberty, but turning her back on society’s expectations hadn’t made her free. It made her marginal and invisible, a person with no definable place among everyone she knew. . . . There was no one among her family or friends who understood her, no one to encourage her, no one who had pursued a dream of her own and could show her the way.” In another case, a woman who excels at her factory winds up fired, seemingly because she couldn’t stop playing power games—probably learned in her dysfunctional upbringing, and which Chang describes as common in Egyptian families.

This is of course a portrait of the lower and middle ranks of society. Chang meets numerous professional women in what she estimates to be the top 1-2%, living in their own bubble and often denying the restrictions most Egyptian women face. One can see why they’re uncomfortable with outside stereotypes of their country that don’t describe their own lives, though in this analysis those stereotypes are accurate for most people.

All that said, the book’s uncritical embrace of garment factories did put me off. I don’t know if these places technically qualify as sweatshops (working conditions are described favorably), but the type of work this book champions certainly involves long hours at repetitive tasks, usually six days a week, and for low pay. When Chang gives salaries, they tend to result in any worker who is supporting herself with her salary (as opposed to just saving up for appliances and household supplies for her dowry) living on about $2 a day—the U.N.’s definition of “extreme poverty.”

So I certainly wouldn’t want to do their jobs, wouldn’t call it liberation, and rolled my eyes whenever someone complained about Egyptians not wanting to work (the men at least seem to have work-life balance figured out—not such a bad thing). One of the people Chang profiles is a woman from a well-off family running a small factory of her own and she really rubbed me the same way, with her self-congratulatory talk about instilling “loyalty” in the people she pays poverty wages while patting herself on the back for “only” requiring them to work five days a week (she later changes her mind on that last). Admittedly, I have worked for someone like her and the main character syndrome of wealthy entrepreneurs perhaps crosses cultural boundaries! But overall, I would have liked the book to interrogate the value of work at least a little, rather than breaking out the pom-poms for corporations and factories—especially when the author herself admits that employment doesn’t necessarily improve Egyptian women’s lives.

Also, while it’s very readable, it took me awhile to fully get into this book, and I was glad to have previously read Chang’s husband’s book about their time in Egypt for context. That said, this one is very informative and I’m glad to have read it.

[Lilisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides insight into the environment within which Egyptian women are challenged to operate not only in the business world but also in their personal lives. The author follows the lives of three women who try to succeed working in garment factories as well as features some of the other women working in those factories. The three women have to contend with Egypt’s culture, opposition of family members including husbands, economic policies, and the overall system as they struggle to be successful. The complete blurring of lines between work and home for the working women and the challenges the industry faces in recruiting women workers were enlightening. I liked how the personalities of the women came through in the book - I felt I got to know them, each a distinct individual. The author did a nice job with context and perspective as well. (I had just finished listening to an audiobook about the Greater Middle East, which also helped provide additional insight into Egypt as I read this book.) Overall, I thought this book was a good read and definitely recommend it. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Egyptian Made by Leslie T. Chang it’s a book I couldn’t wait to get into. Having heard some really great things historically about Egypt in the rights of women I couldn’t wait to see what turned it all around. Unfortunately I learned freedom for women in Egypt is a yo-yo, there was even a man in history who only wanted women to leave the home when going to their marital house their mothers funeral in their own death. There was another who wanted women to walk close to the buildings so they could leave the middle of the road for the men. Throughout this book the main narrative was a story about women some who didn’t know the strength they had, some who knew but they didn’t have the emotional security to fight for it and others who did and achieved what they set out to do. There were many women that were getting ahead at the sewing jobs they had only to quit upon their marriage others wouldn’t show up because there was a holiday in the family and other menial reasons because some men really believe women only work for fun. The book even talks about divorce and how unbalanced it is between women and men we also got to see the Waze Egyptian women pick a husband and although this wasn’t greatly expand their own I found what they did say interesting it was astounded that women were treated even worse than second class citizens and all this from one of the first countries to have a medical school for women but with many different leaders came many different beliefs but for the most part women had a pretty good until the British government poked their nose in an as they say the rest is history. Between Muslims interpreting the Quran tobenefit them in the British patriarchy women didn’t have a chance in Egypt after making such strides this is such a good book I can’t wait to read more by Leslie T Chang especially her books covering China in the factory workers there for an American I find her very knowledgeable and loved her writing style and really enjoyed this book. I want to thank random house and Net Galley for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5] Leslie Chang is as drily funny, thorough and fearless as ever in her research. But while with Factory Girls it seemed like she was fascinated by her subjects, the overwhelming sense you get from this book is that the plight of Egyptian women has left her frustrated and sad. The reader is left this way too. Chang is definitely an outsider looking in (and probably more sympathetic to business executives than they deserve) so I'd be curious to hear an Egyptian American's take on some of the complex issues that are raised here.

[Richard Propes · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are times while reading Leslie T. Chang's "Egyptian Made: Women, Work, and the Promise of Liberation" that I had to remind myself that this is a work of nonfiction. So vivid is Chang's storytelling that there are times, rather frequently, when it feels like you've been plopped down in the middle of a thrilling, and at times rather sad, historical novel.

"Egyptian Made" is, rather obviously, set in Egypt. It's a country struggling to reconcile a traditional culture with the demands of globalization. Chang immerses herself within this world, at times openly and honestly astonished by its repression amidst shiny and mostly shallow promises of women's liberation.

Chang is an unapologetic journalist and this radiates throughout "Egyptian Made" in terms of reporting, approach, and her often quite blunt editorializing of her experiences halfway across the world while amidst women who confidently and defiantly live conflicted lives between work and cultural expectations.

"Egyptian Made" focuses its literary lens on three particular women living factory lives in the textile industry. Chang didn't simply visit these women, though at times "Egyptian Made" makes it feel this way, but she spent over two years of immersion in this society following these women at work and at home and as much as these women and their families would allow.

For the record, that's not always a lot. Chang explores the impact of everything from profound changes in national economic policy to a largely Muslim culture's marriage and family expectations to a weakened and failing educational system.

At first, it appears that "Egyptian Made" is primarily about the world of work. However, Chang casts the net much wider.

Riham is an up-and-coming businesswoman who attempts to balance her entrepreneurial spirit with a desire to nurture women toward success. It's an approach that doesn't always work as she struggles to attract workers to her garment factory while building a successful enterprise in the global marketplace.

Rania, often the most compelling figure here, initially works on an assembly line but ambitiously works toward a management position. She is confident, though not always appropriately nor realistically so and held back by peer conflicts and an unhappy marriage.

Finally, there's Doaa, a colleague of Chang's, who often appears to have the most promise of success but is weighted by sacrificing access to her own children to get a divorce all while still pursuing an education - it's a frequent tale here in the U.S., but comes with heavy baggage in the Egyptian culture.

Along the way, Chang shares her own journey of living in Egypt for five years with her own family and her own observations, often quite blunt yet astute, while also sharing the framework from which all of this grows.

While much of the world romanticizes Egypt with its pharaohs, pyramids, camels, and Nile River, Chang commits her journey toward a more realistic portrayal that still shows respect for the nation. "Egyptian Made" is, at times, so vivid in its portrayal that it feels like we're joining Chang on the journey and astonished by her experiences. Chang's journalistic integrity is exacting, at times even jarring, as she is uncompromising and precise in her truth-telling. The book's final chapter, in particular, winds down this narrative with remarkable insight after remarkable insight and paints portrayals we won't soon forget.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating Examination Of Modern Egyptian Work And Culture. As an American who has only briefly left the US, and never left the Caribbean region when leaving the US, it was fascinating to read such a detailed account of modern Egyptian work and culture as seen through the eyes of an American who lived there for a few years and who actively examined what she saw while there. From a sheer cultural studies perspective, this work was interesting indeed. As an examination of women's place in society in Egypt, it was also fascinating in several different aspects - while there is *some* similarity to *some* minority groups in the US, this was largely a very different concept than how America operates, both in actuality and in vision. Even the work culture of the males shown within is so *vastly* different than American business and work culture, and Chang shows how this is largely the result of Socialist / Nationalist policies from generations ago that became so deeply embedded within the culture at large that no effort to reign them back in has been very successful.

The singular glaring weakness here is the absolute lack of any bibliography at all, at least in the Advance Review Copy edition I read. Indeed, it must be noted, that while I am accustomed to ARCs being "not in final form"... this was also one of the most incomplete ARCs I've ever been given access to. There were quite often threads that would end in "to investigate later" or some such, or "place chart here" or similar, among other issues of this type. Not enough to truly detract from the overall narrative, and certainly not anything to deduct a star over - I know the score with ARCs. But this being truly the most incomplete such book I've ever encountered needed to be noted, as it *did* impact my overall experience with the text.

Overall, this was truly a fascinating examination of a culture I've never experienced and likely *will* never experience, and I trust that the fully released version won't have the incompleteness of what I was given, negating the only criticism I had here. Very much recommended.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Chang's writing and some of her descriptions -- like what it's like to be a women on the street in Cairo and the feeling of coming home are vivid. The book is so bleak though. Her thesis seems to be that China gets everything right because women can become independent but Egypt fails because poor women are relegated to the home. It's hard not to read the book and feel she has some fundamental objections to conservative Islamic culture. And she seems to be struggling throughout the book to explain just why women don't want to work, and is frustrated at the flippant responses she receives. It would have helped to have a couple characters who felt more satisfied to explore the home angle more, which is clearly hard because it's Egypt, she's a foreigner, and she needs a translator. Maybe that's doesn't exist. But the ending is so dark: "When she turns fifteen or sixteen, it will be like a light switching off--she'll adopt modest clothing and demure behavior, leave school or quit her job and fashion herself into a muted version so that a man can love and accept her."

[Sara Broad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leslie Chang's "Egyptian Made" is about the challenges in Egyptian society with creating a culture and class of women who are emotionally and financially independent. Chang follows several women, from seamstresses to factory owners, as they attempt to navigate a society whose increasingly conservative culture treats women as subordinates, even if they are a household's breadwinner. Chang shows that Egypt has not moved beyond the age of arranged and obligation-based marriages. Women spend their lives, and all of their money, gathering goods in preparation for marriage in which traditional societal beliefs see no ends in how much women must sacrifice to meet all of their husbands' needs. This is the book I never knew I was waiting for since reading "Factory Girls," one of Chang's previous releases. I loved the comparisons between the women in Chinese and Egyptian culture. This book is also a great compliment to Peter Hessler's "The Buried." I highly recommend this book!

[Alesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent ethnography of the world of female textile workers in Egypt. We read the stories of many individual women, particularly one who started her own successful factory. She is quite the hero, and a true social innovator, working hard to train young women and give them a career path for independence.

The book includes useful background information on women in Islam, changes in Egyptian culture in the time of Nasser, and how everything changed with Arab Spring (mostly for the worst, for women). The author has a compassionate outlook, although she cannot hide a Western feminist bias. (She is a Chinese American who previously did a similar study in China.)

If you know much about women’s daily life in the Arab world, this book won’t come as much of a surprise. However, it is a careful and interesting study of a particular slice of Egyptian society, and well worth reading.

[Ashley : bostieslovebooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

In an exploration of women and work, journalist Leslie T. Chang follows three Egyptian women as the traditional culture of their society struggles to reconcile with the demands presented by globalization.

EGYPTIAN MADE: WOMEN, WORK, AND THE PROMISE OF LIBERATION was an informative and eye-opening read. I learned much about Egyptian history, culture, and workforce (particularly the garment industry) with specific emphasis on working women in Egyptian society and the prejudices and risks they face. Mixed in with the historical material and interviews, Chang provided her own experiences of living in Egypt for five years. Aside from a few areas that felt mildly repetitive, the book was well-written and did not shy away from showing all aspects of the women’s lives. There’s no saccharine editing to be found here.

If you purchase mass produced clothing and have never considered how it’s made, read this book – the person who stitched together your underwear has a story.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was going to strictly be about women working in the Egyptian textile industry, but it is really a history of women working in general and a lot of history of feminism. Certainly, it takes place from a Chinese American’s perspective in Egypt and Egyptian culture is a huge part of it, but you learn a lot about feminism and women’s power, specifically in the workforce. It also brings up questions about capitalism and whether we all should have to work so hard anyway— specifically women. If you’re going into this book already hating men though, this will reinforce a lot of that hatred, even if you live in an egalitarian society with an egalitarian male partner. This is not the case for me, but it does make me question a lot of the submissive behaviors I grew up, thinking of as feminine and attractive and appropriate.

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chang, already known for her superb work on China's women factory workers, turns her keen senses here to the women and girls of Upper Egypt, following them into factories and back out again, watching some rise and fall, and digging into the family politics of women working outside of the home, all amid the context of Egypt's history and how its dictatorships and leaders have changed the course of its economic prowess. The book is fascinating. Chang moves quickly from one story to the next, bringing in analysis, observations, and explanations of how Egyptian culture works in this part of the country. For anyone interested in women's labor history or current conditions, it's a must-read, and an enlightening one for general audiences.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

To say I enjoyed this book would be incorrect. I learned a lot about this book. I've been to Egypt three times and absolutely love the country and its people. They are warm, generous, and loving. And while I have seen some of the poverty, I have also seen the promise of so many people there that I found the observations and conclusions made herein to be very discouraging. I also hope, wrong. I will continue to love Egypt and hope for its progress not just on the world stage, but for the millions of people - men and women - that live there.

[Susan Soper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readers of this excellent book should first go to the back and read the Acknowledgments pages. You'll have an appreciation for the labor-intensive scope of this endeavor by this skilled and intelligent journalist. "Egyptian Made" is engrossing, educational, and emotionally moving.
It is hoped that the males in Egypt's administration will also read the book; that they will make changes to benefit all Egyptians!

[Hanna Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story broke my heart. I remember being in Egypt and it brought me back and I couldn't stop reading it. It made me cry. These women are so courageous and brave. A very good read to understand and ponder.

[Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

So bleak an image of Egypt.

[Annieamw Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made me want to read Leslie Chang's first book, Factory Girls. Great writing, and great peek into what it's like to be a woman in Egypt.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

At its best when she compared Egyptian factory women with those of China - her previous book.

[Silke Bull · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Umm al-Dunya: Egypte is een land dat je verbijstert, dat je aantrekt met zijn belofte en je teleurstelt door alles waarin het weet te falen. En daarna trekt het je weer aan met een optimisme dat het dit keer wel zal lukken, en beter wordt: het ware geloof dat iedere Egyptenaar diep vanbinnen koestert.'