EGYPT'S First Lady Mrs Suzanne Mubarak recently presided over a regular meeting of the National Council for Women (NCW), which discussed the Council's achievements over the past decade, as well as the ongoing preparations for marking Women's Day. The NCW Secretary-General, Farakhunda Hassan, said that the meeting on Saturday night discussed the Council's efforts to empower women, assist female household leaders, upgrade Egyptian villages and engage women in the decisionmaking process, as well as improving the socio- economic status of women. The meeting also reviewed the Council's plans for removing obstacles impeding the achievement of some of these goals, Farakhunda added. "Mrs Mubarak discussed with the Council members the latest legislation approved by Parliament to upgrade women's status and combat any sort of gender discrimination in Egypt," she commented. The meeting participants, she continued, also assessed the Council's views on some of the articles in the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Convention provides the basis for realising equality between women and men through ensuring women's equal access to, and equal opportunities in, political and public life ��" including the right to vote and to stand for election ��" as well as education, health and employment. Furthermore, the meeting reviewed the appropriate measures taken by the Government to comply with CEDAW articles, which do not contradict with I Shaaria (Islamic law) and the Egyptian Constitution, Farakhunda stressed.
