The two battles -- for women's rights and for democracy -- are equally important and they must be fought together. Says Fatma Khafagy* The issue of women's empowerment has been identified as one of the major development challenges that the Arab world continues to face. This can only take place when gender equality is achieved and when women are able to participate fully in the democratic process. Experts, such as Marina Ottaway, who speak of the "women's rights trap" have argued that a country cannot be democratic if it discriminates against half of its population. Yet the real obstacle to democracy in Arab countries is not discrimination against women but the fact that the entire population has only limited political rights. The problem has less to do with giving women the same rights as men but more with reforming the political system in such a way as to grant the entire population the full gamut of civil and political rights as delineated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights treaties. In the majority of cases, when women are treated equally or assigned important policy and legislative positions in non- democratic countries they tend only to exert themselves in the effort to preserve their own positions and to maintain the status quo in order to remain in power. There is no guarantee that giving women positions of importance will bring about democracy. In Egypt, for example, women occupy several important positions in the media. Yet they have failed to bring about major changes in media policies. Nor have they managed to alter stereotypes of woman in the media. In short, while a country cannot democratize so long as it excludes women, it would be delusional to think that giving women the same (limited) rights as men in an autocratic setting will bring a country closer to democracy. The two battles -- for women's rights and for democracy -- are equally important and they must be fought together. The battle for reform, democracy and good governance requires that both men and women enjoy their full human rights. It remains essentially a human rights battle. The focus solely on gender and the importance of closing the gender gap is not the best methodology in the current context. Closing gaps is relevant when the minority and not the majority are excluded. How to bring the majority to the mainstream is a battle for both women and men. Challenges Facing Egyptian Women Gender equality and women's empowerment are up against several obstacles -- legal, economic and socio/cultural. Gender discriminatory laws do not only violate women's human rights. They also hinder women's participation in different spheres of life. There is an urgent need to revoke any existing laws that discriminate on the basis of sex. Unfortunately, gender discriminatory laws still exist in areas like the penal code and family law. Eliminating discrimination in legislation is essential to achieving gender equality. Laws that govern the private sphere (the family) should be descriptive and not inscriptive and must be based on present reality. We cannot go on assuming that men are the sole providers in families and that they are responsible financially for their close female relatives. We cannot continue to consider women as only mothers, wives and daughters. Women should be treated as individuals who have full rights. Women also face economic challenges when their economic rights are determined only by their roles within the family and when men are not required to perform any household chores or undertake childrearing responsibility. Rigid family structures and male dominated relations limit the role women play and therefore determine women's economic opportunities (such as the kind of jobs they should take, the number of hours they can work, the proximity of the workplace to their homes, the need for travel...etc.). Women are thus expected to take up jobs that do not fall in contradiction with their more important role as wives and mothers. The strong belief that a woman's most important role is that of wife, mother and manager of households limits women's opportunities for advancement in the public sphere. Even when governments declare their strong commitment to increasing educational opportunities for women and increasing their political participation, family laws can contradict these goals and commitments by keeping structures in place that ensure a continuation of the status quo, making it difficult for women to combine their different reproductive and productive roles and they therefore become invisible players in the public arena. These laws are in many cases based on wrong interpretation of religious mores and represent a cultural/power preservation ethos. These social and cultural challenges are manifested in the use of religion to subordinate women, the misapplication of law, the male domination of institutions that implement the law, such as the justice and the police departments, and the control of female sexuality. Having mentioned all these challenges, do Egyptian women have opportunities to empower themselves to achieve gender equality in Egypt? The answer is yes, there are several opportunities that can be seized. Egyptian women have to play a major role in the democratization process. This requires women to be organized in civil society in such a way that makes them a strong pressure group with defined and agreed agenda. This agenda should not only include women's demands in the political, economic and social arenas but also the concerns of society in general. Women's groups must be involved in planning and implementing activities that enlighten women as well as men from all social groups on the human rights of women and the importance of achieving gender equality and equity. Women's groups must work to end media programs that portray women as physically dependent beings whose sexuality should be controlled. Because women usually suffer more from social disparities caused by the expansion of market economies, women's groups and NGOs in Egypt should influence the government to draw up a comprehensive social agenda. This is especially crucial because rapid social and demographic changes have implications for family structure and function. More realistically, informed family policies based on changes in family structures, gender relationships and social security should be in place. The ability of women to combine their reproductive role with their productive roles is an important issue. Women's groups can work together to suggest policies that increase women's ability to combine work with family responsibilities. They can press institutions to adopt policies that take account of women's roles as well as those of men. Women in Egypt, as many women worldwide, suffer from gender-based violence that cuts across all cultures, social classes and economic lines. Gender-based violence -- including wife beating, honour crimes, rape, female genital mutilation -- needs to be eradicated. They can exchange experiences and lessons from other countries in areas such as legislation penalizing domestic violence, police training in how to protect women against violence, and providing victims of violence with services such as shelters, rehabilitation and housing, to name a few. There are countries in the Arab region, such as Morocco, that have made significant advances in family law and women's political participation. Women's groups in Egypt should also work hard to influence the government to ratify the Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which would give women the right to present their individual complaints internationally. This is but one of many international instruments that should be utilized by civil society to prod governments towards the achievement of true equality for all citizens. * The writer is an expert in development planning.
