CAIRO, Egypt — Remarks by former Justice Minister Mahfouz Saber that the son of a rubbish collector should not be appointed to the judiciary — delivered a few hours before Saber’s resignation — outraged Egyptians and highlighted the problem of social mobility, or lack thereof.

When asked during a television interview whether the son of a garbage collector might be appointed to the judiciary, Saber said, “The son of a rubbish collector will not become a judge, because he is not brought up in the right environment for this profession. Even if he becomes a judge, he will come across many problems and will [end up] quitting.” Saber also said, “The rubbish collector must have done a great job raising his son and helping him obtain a degree, but there are other jobs that suit him.” Saber stepped down May 10 following the public uproar triggered by his comments. 

Egyptians' outrage brought to mind the troubling case of Abdul Hamid Sheta, who committed suicide in July 2003, at the age of 25, after being rejected for a job. Sheta had applied to be a commercial attaché, and although he had scored higher than 42 others on the diplomatic corps entrance exam, he was rejected because he came from a poor peasant family. According to the Foreign Ministry, ​Sheta was “socially unsuitable.” Some interpreted Sheta’s decision to jump off Cairo's Qasr al-Nil bridge as a show of strength and determination and rejection of injustice and discrimination against the poor.

In June 2014, 138 law school graduates from the class of 201 conveyed their distress to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after they failed to get jobs in the parliament, although they had passed all their tests and had gone through the full round of interviews. It seems that Sheta’s message has not changed anything in terms of favoritism in public sector hiring.