Women's rights have been widely focussed upon over the past two decades, with the exception of last year due to the rule of the Islamist government. In the wake of the fall of that government, Egyptian women have been once again debating their status especially after the regression in it that took place during the rule of toppled former president Mohamed Morsi. Many of these debates have been conducted at the levels of official entities and the bodies concerned with women rights, such as the National Council for Women (NCW), the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR), and other organisations. Other discussions are taking place among women who have been following news of the official debates. On Sunday, the presidency released the names participating in the Committee of Fifty, tasked with revising, modifying and approving the work of the Committee of Ten that amended the controversial articles in the Islamists' constitution drafted last year. Five women were picked in the Committee of Fifty: Mervat Al-Tellawi, the head of the NCW; Azza Al-Ashmawi, representing the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood; Mona Zul-Faqqar, the member of the National Council for Human Rights; Abla Mohieddin, from the Ministry of Agriculture; and Hoda Al-Sadda, a university professor. Al-Tellawi said that the representation of women in the Committee of Fifty was “disappointing”. She insisted that “choosing five out of 20 nominated women belittles the role of women in society.” The position of the better half of society, Al-Tellawi said, is still “diminished”. Councillor Tahani Al-Gebali supports Al-Tellawi, but added that, “the women who were picked are trustworthy, experienced and are able to fully represent Egypt's women.” The regression in women's rights during Islamist rule took the form of attempts at annulling laws that had provided them with rights during the rule of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak. Rights that women had gained in the political and social arena were strongly opposed by the Islamists, who believed that women should be lower in rank than men and should have almost no rights despite the many rights with which Islam had provided them. Women have played a pivotal role in the revolutionary movements that have swept the country over the past few years. Even before the 30 June Revolution, women had been involved in public life, as well as in raising popular demands, yet various political developments had caused the abandonment of many women's rights as well as of their presence in decision-making positions. This was in addition to ignoring women's issues in policy-making. Despite the spread of women's participation in the public arena and their presence in different revolutionary movements and groups, the question of women's rights has been in abeyance, and many are now calling for it to be given renewed attention. Al-Tellawi said that the council was committed at all levels to pursuing women's rights and supporting women of all backgrounds. “We are accelerating our activities by building on initiatives and efforts that were already underway in promoting the quality of women's lives in rural and urban areas and in the political and the socio-economic domain. Many of these efforts are geared towards responding to the specific priorities and needs of women,” Al-Tellawi said. In spite of women's organisations calling on decision-makers to understand that women are part and parcel of the nation, current political developments have not always been promising as far as women are concerned, Al-Tellawi said, especially since the desire of officials leading the transitional period to act in favour of women has become doubtful. There has been very limited space to integrate women effectively in the crucial period society is passing through, she said. “Most official discussions have witnessed a lack of women's presence and have also failed to address women's issues,” Al-Tellawi added. However, Nehad Abul-Qomsan, the head of the ECWR, disagrees, saying that many officials have strongly acknowledged the importance of the equal representation of women in discussing developments in the coming phase. In addition, the new government has included three female ministers for the first time in decades, she added. There was also the positive sign of appointing veteran writer Sekina Fouad as presidential advisor for women's and family affairs. Yet, the choice nevertheless ignored the necessity of integrating political and human rights pioneers involved in feminist political action and aware of women's issues and their different problems on the ground, Abul-Qomsan said, who added that “there are other feminist activists who would have been more suitable for such a post as they are more aware of women's various issues.” At the same time, there has been vagueness around the responsibilities of this post and the role to be achieved through it. But Abul-Qomsan still believes that choosing three female ministers in addition to a female presidential advisor mirrors the desire of the officials leading the transition period to see women genuinely represented and not just superficially. “They are granting women effective participation in formulating all policies issued by the government,” she said. Nevertheless, as Al-Tellawi pointed out, the constitutional declaration issued on 8 July after the ousting of the former president and the appointment of the interim president did not contain articles concerning women's issues and their right to equality. Such articles were one of the main reasons for the refusal of the 2012 constitution that has now been temporarily suspended. “The constitutional declaration is temporary until the issuing of Egypt's new constitution, but we had hoped women's rights would be mentioned more clearly,” Al-Tellawi said. The NCW head wants to see a gender-balanced government in Egypt that will use expanded definitions of the concept of women's participation in the political process, such that they become part and parcel of the decision-making process. Al-Tellawi said that women's presence in the upcoming government should genuinely reflect wide female participation on the popular level and on diverse political levels, instead of reducing women's participation in the political process to a symbolic gesture or some merely token or decorative criterion. “Women should [have] participate[d] in the Committee of Ten and not only in the Committee of Fifty concerned with amending the constitution, in order to guarantee the better representation of women and their issues,” Al-Tellawi said, adding that women should also take part in the efforts being made to restructure the country's security apparatus and judiciary. Al-Tellawi said that acknowledging and integrating women's political, social and economic issues in the transitional period in order to achieve a comprehensive understanding of women's various situations was essential. “Women's issues should not be discussed in isolation from wider societal interactions. It is also essential to listen to their demands, as well as to hold those who have committed crimes against them accountable,” she said. The NCW recognises the need to boost women's representation in parliament, and it protested against the reduction in women's representation in the now-dismantled People's Assembly. Yet, at the top of the council's list of priorities is combating illiteracy, a sore point with women's groups, which claim that current efforts to do so have been weak and ineffectual. One international development report recently ranked Egypt painfully low among all countries on the issue of women's illiteracy. Out of 174 countries, Egypt came in at 115. Arguing that improving literacy among women is key to improving their political awareness and hence their status in society, Al-Tellawi said that the council would be working in cooperation with the National Executive Agency for Eliminating Illiteracy to this end. Other feminists believe that the current interim government is using the role of the state to act to protect women's rights. Iman Bibars, co-founder of the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW), believes that women have now started regaining their dignity and humanity, lost over the past year. Bibars hailed the interim government for its strong acknowledgement of women by promoting them to important positions. “Yet, despite promising expectations regarding women's status and rights, there is still a need to improve living conditions in society as a whole. We cannot talk about defending women's rights while the socio-economic challenges are so very harsh for the entire society and when we know that whenever life gets tough it is the women who end up sacrificing their rights to make ends meet for the family,” Bibars said. Bibars pointed to the need to improve the quality of education in Egypt, saying that much of the educational curriculum needed to be improved to promote healthy cross-gender and cross-faith relations. The school curriculum helps to form a healthy society in which girls and boys and Muslims and Christians can live together in harmony, she said, adding that “improving the curriculum used in schools should take place as soon as possible.” Bibars believes that women have the same right to work and be given equal opportunities as men. If the government cannot provide these opportunities, it should support women financially in order to ensure that they can live correctly and educate their children. Women should also be supported by the government in cases of disability, she said. Women enjoyed many of these rights during the time of former president Hosni Mubarak. “Currently, women are struggling to continue gaining the rights that God gave them,” Bibars added. “Women in Islam used to enjoy all their rights, but today they have to resort to the courts to get them,” she argued. Al-Tellawi also believes that Al-Azhar should play a greater role in changing social attitudes and in helping women to reinforce their Islamic identity. “It should publish and translate booklets in various languages about women and their role in Islam. These booklets should be distributed to all Western countries in order to help them to understand that Islam gives women their rights,” Al-Tellawi commented. For Bibars, women obtained numerous rights over the past 10 years in Egypt. “Women have gained rights and realised achievements that have not taken place in other areas of society,” she said. “Accordingly, women, along with the NCW, should perhaps now slow down their pace in order to allow other fields to catch up with them.” Women have the strength not only to earn their rights, but also to help make development possible, she added. “They are the thread that links society from one generation to another. They are a little over 50 per cent of the world's population, but they are responsible for the other 50 per cent brought into this world,” Bibars said. The NCW has reviewed a number of other issues that aim to accentuate women's rights in society, including the promotion of policy-making and political participation. The sometimes poor image of women in the media, especially in dramatic productions, has also been addressed. The council has adopted a set of recommendations that aim to activate cooperation between it and other governmental bodies. Closer cooperation is particularly expected between the NCW and the Ministry of Information. “We are hoping for a better future, especially now that the minister of information is a woman,” Al-Tellawi said. Al-Tellawi is concerned by the uncertainty that still overshadows the future of women in Egypt, and Azza Suleiman, head of the Egyptian Centre for Women's Legal Assistance (CEWLA), said that while all voices should be heard in the debate on women's rights, there was a particular need for a revolution in education. Change was needed, she said, and this change would need to reinforce perceptions of the value of women in society, with religious scholars being asked to back such ideas. “There is a need to ensure that the law is fair to women. When laws are made, all voices should be heard, and if someone says that the Sharia should be applied, they should be asked to explain how this will take place in real contexts. Activists and NGOs who have been working on social matters should also be invited to consult on the law when it concerns women,” Suleiman said. The CEWLA is calling for effective policies that guarantee equality between men and women, in accordance with provisions in the upcoming Egyptian constitution that should help eliminate discrimination against both sexes. “Only in this way can the principle of equality be transformed from merely theoretical provisions to reality,” Suleiman said. In this she was supported by Al-Tellawi, who said that women's rights should be guaranteed in specific, and not vague, terms.
