CAIRO: The Egyptian Center for Women s Rights (ECWR) will host a roundtable discussion on Wednesday on women s participation in the political process. The event aims to shed light on concerns by law and opinion makers in Egypt over the inadequate representation of women in legislative and executive state bodies. Marwa Mokhtar, spokesperson for the ECWR president, said a plenary session will address concerns raised by women activists that the formation of the high electoral committee, charged with overseeing the upcoming Shura elections, could negatively impact on the political participation of women. This could lead to further marginalization of women in Egyptian politics. The roundtable will be chaired by president of ECWR, Nahed Abul Komsan, and will be comprised of parliamentarians alongside law and media experts Komsan lamented in a statement sent to The Daily Star Egypt, what she described as the under representation of women in both houses of parliament. She said that only four women members were directly elected in the lower house of parliament, while the remaining five members were appointed by the government. Political analysts, meanwhile, predicted hotly contested Shura Council by-elections. They downplayed concerns over the under representation of women in the first elections, after the introduction of significant constitutional amendments in March. Muhammad Al Sayeed Fayek, a political analyst at the Thematic Radio News Channel, said the by-elections are a test of the government promises of political reforms and the recent constitutional amendments that were narrowly voted in amid low voter turnout. The by-elections are to renew membership of half the members of the 264 seat consultative body and are scheduled to be held in the second week of June. The whole nation, as well as observers from around the world, views these elections as a test of the government in terms of fulfilling political reform promises, he said. Fayek sought to downplay concerns over the formation of the high electoral committee, however, saying no articles in the electoral laws explicitly exclude women or other minority groups. He pointed out that the last amendments stipulated the participation of four members of the public in the committee tasked with overseeing the elections process. There are no legal restrictions of any sort that exclude the participation of women.. There are, nevertheless, fears that these members would be appointed by the government which might constitute reasons for concern over the partiality of these appointed members, he commented. Fayek pointed out that the significance of the Shura by-elections lies in the fact that the general political atmosphere is expected to lead to changes that could grant the upper house more legislative powers on a par with the People s Assembly, whose resolutions are legally binding. There are currently 18 women members in the Shura Council, all of whom are appointed by the government. The constitution gives the government the right to appoint up to a third of the 264 members. While a broader participation for women has long been the demand of women's groups and civil society groups working in Egypt, Fayek predicted that it will take time to change deep-rooted misconceptions about the political participation of women in Egypt. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions about women s political contribution in Egypt, as was the case in other parts of the developing world, and it will take time to change these misconceptions, which are held unconsciously by the majority of the public. Electoral laws and bylaws try to deal with such misconceptions and shortcomings through the appointment system, which ensures that women and other minority groups are properly represented in legislative bodies.
