Egyptian MP proposes lowering marital age for girls

An Egyptian MP has sparked anger after calling on the legal age for girls to get married to be lowered.

Ahmed Samih drafted a proposed law which would lower the marital age of girls from 18 years old to 16, according to Al-Ahram.

"Statistics show that 80 percent of girls aged 16 in rural and densely populated urban districts marry with parental consent, even though they are aware that this marriage is illegal," he said, adding that his proposed law aims to solve problems that those girls often face. 

The notion could be especially dangerous in Egypt where young marriages are not often by choice, but by pressure from families.

Samih also claimed the law will bring Egyptian law closer to Islamic Sharia law.

The MP's legislative proposal faced the backlash of fellow MPs who labeled it "regressive".

"The 45-member parliamentary bloc titled Egypt's Bloc of Female MPs described Samih's draft law as 'a disaster,'" Al Ahram wrote. 

MP Margret Azer said the government's job is to "stand against this trend" rather than to legalise it. 

Social media reactions

Egyptians fought back at the proposal with a Twitter hashtag that translates to "no to lowering the legal marital age".

There were calls for the MP to be thrown in prison:

Others said this will only serve a "sick form of masculinity":

The draft was also criticised for stunting the personal development of girls, trapping them in dependancy on others and potentially abuse: