EGYPT – What Women Want

Since Egyptians consider it to be their first experience in decades, presidential elections constitutes to be the main subject in their discussions, especially after some of the most promising candidates have been banned by the Supreme Elections Committee.

Apart from plans to change some laws when the candidates be in power, you can hardly find any presence of women issues on their agenda.

Three of the most important candidates, Khayrat Al-Shater (Muslim Brotherhood Candidate), Hazem Abu Ismail, and Omar Suleiman (Ex-Vice President), had been banned on Saturday April 14, from pursuing their journeys to presidency.

Different concerns, challenges, problems, and hopes are in store for the president-to-be, one of which is the women rights.

But do Egyptian women really consider their rights as one of the selection criteria for the new president?

Talking with Doaa Mahmoud, 23, a university graduate, she views the performance of the parliament so far as weak and irrelevant to people basic concerns and challenges.

“People are having hard times struggling to get their basic needs, and I don’t think the parliament did anything about that”, she explained.

However, she would certainly elect Abu-Ismail who is an Islamist exactly like the parliament members whom she sees inefficient.

She justifies her choice by her desire to see Egypt as an ‘Islamic’ country, ruled by a president who has an Islamic background and project.

 

Women’s Rights is Part of Human Rights

Mahmoud finds that Egyptian women still have many issues to be addressed by the president and the government.

“Women in Egypt have the right to work, but they want amendments in working laws for women, so they are able to work and raise their children at the same time”, Mahmoud explained.

For Mahmoud, an Islamist is the right person, so, If Abu-Ismail is out, she’ll think of an alternative Islamist.

Women rights in Egypt are perceived differently by different parties. Some feel that women rights advocates are jobless women who are implementing UN agenda regardless Egyptian traditions.

Others have the conviction that Egyptian women are just fine, they work, they vote, they even can be candidates for the parliament or the president, so, what is all this fuss about their rights?

“No doubt boosting women rights is very important, but after we have gone through, we just need a president to get us out of this chaos, then think about an issue at a time”, Ghada Saleh highlighted.

Some of the women interviewed asserted that the president shouldn’t have a special program to boost women rights, boosting women rights can always be done in boosting human rights in general.

This opinion is very obvious in different programs of presidential candidates which are mostly void of mentioning women rights as an achievement they are targeting.

 

Egyptian Women on Islamists

Apart from plans to change some laws when the candidates be in power, you can hardly find any presence of women issues on their agenda.

This is can be a fatal mistake for Islamists whom some women are especially skeptical about their interfering with their private lives.

Discussions like whether Islamists will force veil on Egyptian women or not, or whether they will ban them from working in certain professions becomes a common subject among average Egyptians.

“I believe in Islamic ruling but I do not accept extremism, and enforcing a sole understanding of Islam on the majority”, Sherine Mohammed, 30 years and a mother of 4 asserted.

It worth noting that people put Abu-Ismail and Al-Shater in focus more than Abulfottouh who is perceived as an open minded Islamist.

“I don’t think any president, whoever he is, can take back women rights that we have gained through past decades”, asserted Nousa, 30 years, a mother of 3.

Nousa said that she will elect an Islamist, but she didn’t make her mind yet.

On the contrary, Fatma Emam, women rights’ activist failed to find a candidate that she can trust in achieving the goals of Egyptians at this stage.

“I’m really sad that women rights do not exist on candidates’ agendas, I’ll boycott the elections!” Emam added.

Randa Sadek, 19 years, a MAS-Com student will also boycott the elections but for a different reason.

“I believe elections shouldn’t be done while Supreme Council of Armed Forces is still in power”, she explained.

However, she doesn’t put Women Rights as a top priority as she perceives justice and setting trials to martyrs’ killers the most prior.

Another women rights’ advocate and a journalist, Ayat el-Habbal, perceives Aboelfottouh as the right person.

“I don’t believe that we should have a council to boost women rights, women should rather stand for their rights”, El-Habbal explains.

El-Habbal trusts Aboelfottouh as he always communicates with the people to get their real needs rather than talking with organizations and parties.

Interviewed Muslim Brotherhood women mostly support the Brotherhood candidate whoever he is for the huge support he would get from all brotherhood members in case he became the president.

The Egyptian elections are giving the people more surprises than they have ever imagined, and no one can speculate how it would end. However, keeping women rights’ folder in the drawer won’t have any added value to the people, and we won’t be able to escape the persistent and inevitable question, if not now, then when?

Rasha Dewedar is a freelance journalist based in Cairo, she has special interest in the Middle East, gender issues and science.

WHAT WOMEN WANT in Egypt May 2012

They stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the men in Tahrir Square, yet many women now feel sidelined as Egypt undergoes its transition to democracy. Ahead of the presidential elections, beginning 24 May, this short documentary asks Egyptian women what they want from their next President.It was produced by UN Women and Egypt’s National Council for Women.

“In 2011, with a collective interest in the affairs of women in revolutionary countries, we’ve decided to head out in the streets of Cairo to ask women about their experience with the Egyptian revolution. We targeted women in different areas in Egypt, hoping to question women from various socio-economic backgrounds and age groups. We went to Tahrir stopping passersby in front of the Mogamma’ building, and we also stopped women outside of a coffee shop in the upscale neighborhood of Zamalek to hear what they have to say.

We asked them what their experience during the revolution was like, what their lives are like now in post-revolution Egypt and what their hopes and dreams are for Egypt.” says YOUNG WOMEN SUMMIT.

 

Here are some of the voices from the streets of Cairo:

Ameera, 60 years old, vendor
■She has been selling feteer in place of her husband to earn a living after he passed away 22 years ago.
■The revolution didn’t achieve anything for the people.
■She believes that the only revolution was that led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
■She wants the new government to take care of the “simple” people who are financially struggling and poor.

Amal, 26 years old
■She participated in the demonstrations.
■She does not have hope in the future.
■She wants from the new president to create a large labor market with opportunities for employment and fair wages.

Mirvat and Mona Said, sisters, 29 and 31 years
■They want jobs and decrease of the unemployment level.
■Better education
■Health care especially for children

Amani Khayyat, 25 years old, housewife
■Good life for all Egyptians
■Increase in work opportunity
■Security
■Better education

Samah, 37 years, fabric vendor, has a Bachelor of Information Technology
■“I want the new president to be like Mohamed Ali, the founder of Modern Egypt who turned Cairo from a once-destroyed city to a civilized city in the 18th Century.”
■“I am 37 years old but I still don’t have my rights.”
■Wants a white collar job as opposed to “working in the street.”
■Implement fair import and export laws because she explains everything is expensive nowadays.
■“Not one of the potential presidential candidates so far knows what the Egyptian need or want.”

Lydia, 33 years old, housewife
■Wants a fair social system for women and change the patriarchal order of society; “Because if woman live in a good social system everything would be ok then.”
■“The good changes and advantages of Egyptian Revolution is not yet clear but the coming generation will feel the differences.”

Hagar, 16 years old, student
■She participated in the demonstrations.
■She has hope that Egypt would be better place in the coming days.
■“The new government should focuses on youth and education because educated youth will rebuild Egypt. We need our voices to be heard.”

YOUNG WOMEN’S SUMMIT.

The Fantasy President, Noha Darwish – What Women Want Magazine