Women of all ages, some clutching small children, sit in the waiting room of the Happy Childhood Association in Zeinhom, a poor district of Cairo. The only thing to look at as they await their turn to see the doctor, a family planning volunteer, is a big board with colourful drawings of the female reproductive organs.
Like most of the younger women in the room, Maha Abdelaziz, 29, insists she only wants two children. The working mother of a five-year old, she says that she and her husband have agreed to keep their family small. “I managed to get a bachelor’s degree in nursing,” she says. “But I want my children to go further. Language schools are expensive and state education keeps on deteriorating.”
