The 2010 Parliamentary Elections' news in Egypt was, as expected, full of violence and fraud. The National Democratic Party not only maintained a 2/3rds majority but eliminated much of the opposition from the lower house. During these Elections It was also obvious how Women's group had skyrocketed together with the NDP. Last year the authoritarian regime led by the 82 year-President Hosni Mubarak created a new law that guaranteed 64 of today's electoral winners to be women. Comparatively, in 2005, when elections were much fairer, women won only 4 seats. If today was a victory for women, the ones that the regime supported, it was a setback for democracy. In fact, the female quota is nothing but short of a veil placed over Egypt's corruption. Women who seek to increase their power through non-democratic means (the parliamentary quota) serve only to obscure the rising authoritarianism with fluffy democratic rhetoric. No change is actually taking place, women aren't getting more power. The political elites are simply buying more time to rob Egyptian society before it revolts against the injustice. The fact that the regime used a quota reflects the importance of quantitative indicators in assessing women's under representation in politics. We may not see women in the parliament. However, the reason for that is not tha they are not politically active, nor that they are bad candidates. But It's because they face harassment, psychological and physical threats while campaigning. Women fear the violence common at polling stations and the negative image of being a corrupt politician that comes with the territory. The empowerment of women has got to come from the democratization of the system and the dis-empowering of the regime, and not through positive-discrimination, as it mainly focuses on the elite women and marginalizes the majority of women. Now that they are in power those women who "won" today should consider resigning or boycotting the legislative sessions as should the men who've got any fight in them.
