Valentine’s Day has traditionally been seen as more significant for women than for men. Although this is slowly changing, a recent study of nearly 7,000 people in the UK showed that women are around 10% more enthusiastic than men about the prospect of celebrating.
Meanwhile, concerning Egypt, the expectations for the day can run high for both men and women, but the stereotype is that women are more emotional and more caring on that day, thus Daily News Egypt investigated that topic further to learn more about what women really want and how they think of Valentine’s Day and also conducted a survey on social media and interviewed different categories of women to find out the ways women love to spend Valentine’s and gifts they like to receive.
Majority of women in Egypt love to spend Valentine’s Day outside home
Majority of women that answered the survey in Egypt, 50%, stated that they prefer to spend the Valentine’s Day outside the house. Plus, 60% stated that they prefer to go for dinner with their partner, 20% prefer to go the cinema, and 10% prefer to attend a concert with their partner, while only 10% prefer different other things.
Meanwhile, 20% stated that they prefer to travel with their partner, on the other hand 30% prefer to stay at home, of which 60% prefer to watch a film in home with their partner, 20% prefer to cook something special with their partner, 10% prefer seeing a play together, 5% voted for playing board games, with only 5% prefer relaxing.
Egyptian women average spending on Valentine’s Day
Women showed that they do not think about the Valentine gift until February, mainly all the interviewed women stated that they should buy gifts for their partners in all the relationship statuses either engaged, married, or even their boyfriends.
For her part, Amna Ahmed, who is 24-years-old, a journalist, told DNE that she bought for her boyfriend this year, a silver watch worth EGP1,200.
Meanwhile, Sandy Ali, who is 40-years-old, stated that she bought for her husband a perfume worth EGP 600.
Furthermore, the 35year–old-teacher, Hana Ali told DNE that she bought for her fiancé a silver medal worth EGP 250.
Also, a journalist who prefers to remain anonymous, told DNE that she bought her bought friend flowers in addition to different chocolates as he loves chocolates at a cost of EGP 200.
According to the survey the average spending of women who answered the survey on Valentine ranges between EGP 250 to EGP 950, depending on the social class of the women.
What Egyptian women really want on Valentine?
On the other hand, almost all the women surveyed either on social media or face-to-face asserted that it is not about the gift or its price, it’s more all about the memory and the appreciation they enjoy through getting a gift from their partners.
There were 60% of women who stated that they prefer both to spend time with their partners and to receive a gift, while 30% stated that they prefer only spending time with their partner on Valentine’s Day with only 10% preferring only to receive gifts on Valentine.
Concerning the type of the gifts that women prefer on Valentine`s Day, jewellery came in first palace, followed by the flowers, then perfumes came in third palace, followed by makeup, and last but not least, chocolates.
Meanwhile, women stated that there are some kinds of gifts that they do not prefer on Valentine’s Day agreeing on that they prefer the kind of gifts that came especially for them not for the home for example.
In terms of the undesired gifts list, home appliances topped the list, followed by toys, then electronics came in third palace.
Furthermore, they all agreed that the worst gift ever is giving money to them.
What women in Egypt think about Valentine?
The majority of women think that the Valentine’s Day is a chance for partners to improve their relationship either by getting engaged or married.
Notably, the results are based on 1,500 respondents across different governorates in Egypt through both social media survey and face-to-face interviews.
“Every relationship goes through many changes and developments, sometimes it is boring, or dominated by routine, other times it’s happy, but from time to time they both need to explain their love,” according to the life coach, Hanan Sabry.
Sabry noted that the Valentine is always a chance for both couples to refresh their relationships.
Sabry told Daily News Egypt that there is a significant rise in the divorce rate in Egypt for many reasons, which are that young men and women are not eligible for marriage. They do not fully comprehend the requirements of marriage, or the responsibilities that they must face in wedlock.
She also noted that no one in Egypt reads books about marriage before getting married.
Furthermore, Sabry added that among the reasons for the high divorce rate in Egypt is that the intimacy in relationships between married couples has become very limited due to an increase in addiction to watching porn online and the spread of affairs and other forms of infidelity in Egypt.
Also, she pointed out that there is another problem which is that men often prefer to escape from their home and spend most of their time outside their homes, either sitting with their friends at cafés or sitting at work doing nothing, because they feel neither comfortable nor happy at home, thus women feel that they are always alone at home and therefore, this also results in fathers feeling disconnected from their children.
Moreover, Sabry highlighted that the solution to those problems is that the newly engaged couples should take courses before marriage on being prepared for marriage, which are regularly held at mosques and churches.
In addition, she has some tips for couples after marriage to refresh marriage life and to break the routine. This includes to remain keen to participate in the interests of your partner, such as going to the gym, or to devote a day of the week to spend time together, hanging out, or making something special together. Couples may also try to form romantic moments and cherished memories, she said, in order to help them overcome their problems. “Also, read a lot of books about marriage because culturing yourself reduces the incidence of problems,” she said.
“Taking into consideration that every age comes with new skills and changes that occur in men and women, that must be accepted and dealt with in the right way,” she asserted.
Finally, she said that when women focus on their dreams, this will solve a large portion of the problems that Egyptian families face, as they will be more focused on their own life and not as preoccupied with their husbands’ movements, thus men will be happier in their homes and will not try to spend most of their time out of them, advising all the couples to make the best memories on Valentine’s Day.
