Supporters of the quota system that sets aside parliamentary seats for female candidates believe it will change public perceptions of women's role in society, reports Reem Leila The quota system which allocates an extra 64 People's Assembly seats for women, passed by the People's Assembly (PA) in June 2009, significantly increases the percentage of women in parliament, up from 1.8 per cent in 2005 to at least 12 per cent in 2010. It has also increased the overall number of parliamentary seats, leading to a squeeze on space. In the new parliament each MP will be allocated a seat just 60cm wide, as opposed to the 80 enjoyed by outgoing members. This year 1,009 women applied to be parliamentary candidates. While 397 made the final list, 320 of them were competing under the quota system. As Farkhonda Hassan, secretary-general of the National Council for Women (NCW), points out, in the first round the NDP won 60 of the reserved seats. "The quota system should be viewed as a great victory in terms of female parliamentary representation," she says. This result was not a source of comfort for those women standing as independent or opposition candidates. According to Azza Suleiman, a lawyer standing under the reserved quota as an independent and who secured just 16,000 votes, "NDP nominees swept the board not because of their efficiency or competence but because they were strongly backed up by the ruling party." Many women candidates have accused the authorities of electoral fraud. "The NDP candidates who won barely contested their seats, they depended on the security forces and their representatives win the seat for them," says Suleiman. "I toured my whole constituency to meet voters, and few of them had any idea how the quota system worked let alone who to vote for." "The presence of women in parliament, whether affiliated to the NDP, opposition parties or as independent candidates is important," says Hassan, "because laws that significantly affect women and families, such as the social health insurance law and the personal affairs law, are due to be debated in the next parliament." It is a point with which Suleiman takes issue: the NDP's women candidates, she says, are in the People's Assembly to implement the agenda of the ruling party regardless of how it affects the people's welfare. Mahmoud Sherif, chairman of the NCW's Political Participation Committee, insists that introducing a quota was a necessary step in changing attitudes towards women's political participation. "People have chosen whom they trust. It is not the ruling party's fault that it is trusted by the public. The NDP is a large party that can serve people better than smaller or opposition parties." In the 2005 election, says Sherif, just four women were elected because "opposition parties as well as the ruling party wanted to win so they nominated their most powerful men". The greater number of women MPs in the current parliament mirrors, he argues, "a real change in society and an increase in the awareness and capacities of women". Amal Abdel-Karim, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for Giza's woman-only seat, decries the non- representation of the opposition. "A diverse parliament helps in serving different sectors of society," she says. She warns that the quota of seats was introduced, and opposition candidates excluded "to serve the West's agenda for women and that of international women's rights organisations, not to serve Egyptian women. The aims conflict with Islamic Sharia and Egyptian traditions such as inheritance laws". Hassan dismisses Abdel-Karim's allegations, pointing out that the government cannot pass any laws that contradict with Islamic Sharia and that women have the right to inherit. "The NCW has been working for years to convince people, especially in Upper Egypt, to give women their inheritance. Islam is very clear on the issue," she says. "Islamic Sharia insists women must receive their inheritances. What is needed is legislation to enforce what the Sharia stipulates."
