Women's struggle for their rights goes back to the early 1920s when the Egyptian Feminist Union was formed. Its impact was increasingly felt from the 1950s. Egypt ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) with reservations in 1981, and has signed other international conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The Constitution gives women equal access to education, employment and work opportunities, equal pay for equal work, and social security. Egyptian civil law, in accordance with Islamic law, gives women the right to possess and control property, and to inherit, although women receive only half as much as men. While no laws restrict women's ownership of land and livestock or access to credit, discrimination may exist due to custom and tradition, lack of awareness among women of their rights, or lack of strict implementation of the laws.
