CAIRO: The Egyptian Center for Development on Saturday issued a study on women's participation in public life and the results were depressing for women's advocates in the country. According to the report, women's participation in political life in Egypt does not exceed five percent, while the particiaption rate for female members of Parliament is at a dismal two percent, including those appointed by the President. The study said that these numbers are not reflective of the more than 3.5 million who have the right to vote in the country. The study said that Egypt remains extremely low globally in terms of the status of women in local council, where representation is often below five percent. This, the report stated, was far lower than the rate of representation in countries such as Namibia, Bolivia and India, where these nations apply some form of “positive bias towards women at the local level.” The study attributed the reasons for low participation of women in politics to the absence of democracy within the political parties themsleves. It pointed to the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) monopoly on political life and the “weakness of the opposition,” recommending the need to implement a quota system gradually “so that the society can be able to give its voice on the basis of the electoral program of the candidate without regard to race or gender.” The study recommended the need to increase awareness among members of Egyptian society on the importance of the role of women in the political process and end any possible violations suffered by women in public life and increase awareness campaigns “to reduce the legal and political illiteracy among women and to take measures to protect female candidates in elections from all the pressures and threats that they may be subjected to.” The study called for defining the standards of a fair selection of women who will be chosen for representation of women in Parliament, whether for appointment or nomination, “so that they cross all sectors of society and not be limited to the selection of a certain category or members of one party, in particular the National Democratic Party, to ensure fair and impartial representation of women in the next Parliament.” One of those women who has served in Parliament, Mona Makram Ebeid, who told Bikya Masr last fall she may run for Parliament again this year, said that the problem with women's participation in politics is that they “find it extremely difficult.” Ebeid pointed to the reality that many women choose social work or NGOs instead of politics. This, she argued is due to the continued stereotyping of “politics as a man's world.” In order to combat this, the former MP said that women must become acquainted with what they can do in politics. “If women believe their time is better suited outside politics, that is fine, but many would like to get involved and run for government, but still today we struggle to allow them to have their voices heard.” Increasing representation and getting women involved in politics could prove more difficult after women were barred from joining the country's top advisory court in a move that has been widely condemned by local and international rights groups as unjust and “threatens the empowerment and forward agenda of the country.” **additional reporting by Joseph Mayton BM
