Egypt's Road to Prosperity
When Sadat started his open-door policy in 1974, he also relaxed the constraints previously imposed by President Nasser on migration from Egypt to other countries (LaTowsky 1984). However, while Sadat saw the road to development and modernization as going through the West, Arab
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countries such as Libya, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia became the sources of financial prosperity for many skilled and unskilled Egyptian workers. Since the mid-1970s, these countries have continued to inform the imagination of young men and to promise to fulfill their dreams of accumulating the funds needed for marriage, housing, and investment. Over the years, millions of Egyptians have worked abroad and sent money back home. In 1994–1995, the number of Egyptian labor migrants was estimated at 2.7 million and remittances from these workers at $3.3 billion (Economist Intelligence Unit 1996: 25, 52). The money sent by these migrants attracted the attention of policy makers and researchers. Although researchers in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East have been exploring the impact of labor migration on economic activities, gender inequalities, consumption patterns, and household structure since the mid-1970s, their focus has been mainly on the countryside (Brink 1991; Weir 1987; LaTowsky 1984; Myntti 1984; Taylor 1984; Khafagy 1983). Yet we know very little about how migrants from the city such as Magdy participate in the daily activities of their families and how they participate in the production of urban localities.