{"id":20772,"date":"2012-07-04T11:12:08","date_gmt":"2012-07-04T07:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=20772"},"modified":"2012-07-04T11:12:15","modified_gmt":"2012-07-04T07:12:15","slug":"egyptian-women-fighting-hard-for-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/egyptian-women-fighting-hard-for-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Egyptian Women ‘Fighting Hard’ For Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One of the iconic images of Egypt\u2019s revolution was that of men and women standing together, united for positive change. But since then, women have struggled with sexual harassment and been side-lined in the political transition. Egyptian women, however, have never stopped fighting \u2013 and today they are finding many new allies.<\/p>\n

Some Egyptians argue that democracy needs to come first, before worrying about women\u2019s rights. Overcoming women\u2019s marginalisation first, though, is actually essential to creating a truly democratic Egypt. The core issue is not only about women\u2019s equality with men, but also about justice.<\/p>\n

All too often, women have been treated as second class citizens and subject to injustice \u2013 they face harassment on the street, have been victims of virginity tests by the military, and are shut out of many opportunities to be involved in politics. For instance, women\u2019s rights activists are not being consulted in the constitution drafting process. Even though women can legally hold positions as judges or high-ranking political offices, social pressure often means women are unable to attain them.<\/p>\n

However, women\u2019s rights activists have not been silent in the face of hurdles like these. Take Bothaina Kamel, who exercised her right to run for president, and was Egypt\u2019s first female candidate for the office. Although she ultimately failed to gather enough signatures to be on the ballot, she demonstrated to other Egyptian women that they, too, should be able to participate in politics.<\/p>\n

When it comes to civil society, many existing feminist organisations have grown in membership, and new feminist organisations have been founded. For instance, the Feminist Union, originally founded in 1923 by activist Hoda Shaarawy, was re-launched in October 2011, bringing together more than 1,000 organisations under its umbrella to focus on supporting women running in the parliamentary elections as well as encouraging women to vote.<\/p>\n

Alongside these examples of female activists are also stories of men supporting women. Many liberal members of parliament, such as Amr Hamzawy, have spoken about the importance of making women\u2019s issues a priority. Men\u2019s support has extended to the grassroots level, too. Over the past year, men have participated in and protected women from harassment during marches organised by women. In addition, projects like Harassmap, which documents and advocates against harassment on the street, and other organisations like it, have male volunteers.<\/p>\n

The only way to truly achieve women\u2019s rights over the long-term is to include women in all decision-making processes \u2013 including revising the constitution. Egypt\u2019s new constitution must call for the elimination of any form of gender-based discrimination. It should include measures that will encourage women to participate in government and hold leadership positions and protect their socio-economic rights, such as the right to education. Last year, in fact, various feminist groups working with the UN drafted the Egyptian Women\u2019s Charter, which could serve as a model for a more gender-sensitive constitution.<\/p>\n

Moreover, women\u2019s rights activists must engage the state \u2013 and participate in both the political opposition and in Mohamed Morsi\u2019s new government. One step the state could take to promote women\u2019s rights would be to sponsor projects by various women\u2019s organisations, and include women from these groups in the new cabinet currently in formation. In the French government, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem serves as the Minister for Women\u2019s Rights \u2013 a position that may be worth replicating in Egypt.<\/p>\n

It is also important to remember that the Muslim Brotherhood includes many female members. In fact, many of the women in the Muslim Brotherhood occupy leading roles in their party and organisation, such as Hoda Abdel Moneim, a lawyer and Chairwoman of the Women’s Affairs Committee of the Freedom and Justice Party. Many women in the Muslim Brotherhood also manage social programmes. From my own conversations with women from the Muslim Brotherhood, it is evident that they possess a genuine desire to be in leading positions and actively work to improve the condition of Egyptian women.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s rights activists from all backgrounds need to maintain a united front and actively participate in Egypt\u2019s political transition. In a personal interview, Abdel Moneim stressed the need for women within the Muslim Brotherhood to work towards reforming Egypt\u2019s political and social spheres, alongside women outside the movement. It is partnerships like these that are ultimately needed \u2013 activists from all perspectives, religious and secular, joining to face the challenges ahead.<\/p>\n

Randa El Tahawy is a writer for Egypt Today and a women\u2019s rights activist in Egypt.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RANDA EL TAHAWY, CGNEWS: Women across the political spectrum in Egypt are refusing to be sidelined or misrepresented. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,124,90,235,482,5],"tags":[10502,5089,8201,1696,125,18300,354,13671,6800,13661,13928,389,1808,387,133,177],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}