CAIRO: Women's rights activists, as well as members of different political parties and analysts agreed that a roster system is the way to guarantee fair representation of women in the different elected bodies, especially the People's Assembly and the Shoura Council. The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights (ECWR) organized a seminar to discuss the best electoral system that will facilitate a fair representation of women in the Egyptian political arena. The seminar comes after the constitutional declaration was announced last week, where Article 38 states that the "law organizes the right of nomination to the People's Assembly and the Shoura Council in accordance with the electoral system it determines. It includes a minimum representation of women in both councils." “The roster is a solution to a lot of problems, because it gives opportunities to political parties to be represented [fairly],” said Kamilia Shokry, member of the supreme body of Al-Wafd Party. “Furthermore, it doesn't allow the intervention of exterior motives such as money, thugs and security forces in the elections process,” she explained. “The roster will help everyone be represented, be it women or Copts, it will provide justice not only to females but to other minorities as well,” Shokry added. The Tagammu Party has also been pushing for the roster system but had to settle for the quota. “For more than 10 years we have been pushing for the roster in the parliamentary elections in order to have a fair representation of females,” said Magda Abdel Badei, journalist at Al-Ahali newspaper and member of the women's federation in the Tagammu Party. “We had to accept the quota as a way to encourage women especially in the rural areas where the patriarchal culture is particularly strong,” she added, noting that it was only beneficial decree the old regime had issued. “However, it was inefficient as it covered huge areas and the candidates didn't have time to go all over the place and meet the people and hold assemblies and conferences,” Abdel Badei said. Shokry also noted that during the last elections, while the quota may have solved the representation issue in theory, it didn't help due to the corruption which limited the winners to one specific party. The speakers also expressed their concern that the accomplishments terms of women's rights during the last 30 years may be eliminated because of their association with former first lady Suzanne Mubarak. “After the January 25 Revolution, some have been calling on the collapse of the National Council for Women, which was the only lobby for female rights as they have directly associated it with the former first lady,” said Amany Altaweel, program manager at the Political and Strategic Studies Center. “After January 25 we are embarking on a new era, where we have to present our proposition for [female] representation in Egypt in order to have a real democratic transition with equal female representation,” said Head of ECWR, Nehad Abul Komsan. Women's role in shaping the country “When it came to action, in the Jan. 25 Coalition there are only two women, the new Cabinet of Ministers includes only one woman, the Council of Wisemen also includes one woman and in the committee drafting the constitution there were no women,” she explained. Abul Komsan also called on changing the syllabi in order to teach students about the female icons in Egyptian history such as Aisha Rateb and Huda Shaarawi. Furthermore, she cited several events which took place after January 25 which hinder the pursuit of women's rights in the coming period; these include the harassment female protesters faced in Tahrir Square on the International Women's Day and the virginity tests conducted on detained female demonstrators. “To have a real democracy we must talk in terms of rights,” stated Altaweel. There are two main areas to work on during the upcoming period, she explained. “First, calling and pressuring for a roster so that minorities have equal representation. “Second, education reform, as the woman is always sidelined in the syllabi, furthermore women's rights organizations must be present in universities in order to raise awareness.” On the other hand, political analyst Emad Gad from Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that it wasn't only women who were sidelined in the post revolution decision-making process, but numerous powers, such as the liberals, seculars and the Copts. “They all have to unite and join forces, as having equal rights is the core of development and modernization,” he said. “Without equality we won't have true democracy,” Gad said.
