CAIRO - More than 30 international experts and women's rights activists appealed for Egypt's women to be given greater scope on the country's political stage, for the elimination of gender stereotypes, and for erasing inequalities in education, training and resources. The experts who were invited to Cairo by the Swedish Institute in Alexandria and Karama, a regional NGO seeking to end violence against women, said Egypt cannot move ahead while half of its population and half of its economic and intellectual potential is being neglected or marginalised. "Don't women have a political role to play in post-revolution Egypt?" asked Mervat el-Telawi, Egypt's former Minister of Social Affairs and a staunch supporter of women's rights. "We have had laws guaranteeing women's political rights since the days of Nasser, but these laws are rarely put into effect." Women played an active part in the January 25 revolution which forced Hosni Mubarak out of office, having ruled with an iron fist for 30 years. Images of women bravely chanting anti-Mubarak slogans on the front line against the ex-leader's policemen and thugs still linger in the memories of millions here. Since the revolution, however, little mention has been made of women's share in Egypt's political future, although they were promised a specific quota of seats in Mubarak's last parliament before the revolution. Late president Sadat specified 30 parliamentary seats for women too, but now the nation's women are getting nothing but lip service. El-Telawi, who comes from Upper Egypt where men have a low view of women and who struggled to get a proper education, presented a letter to the ruling military council, asking it to bear women in mind when making laws regulating the next parliamentary elections. But, she explained, she's got nothing. "I think the council is responsible for the deterioration of the status of women in post-revolution Egypt," she said, calling for radical changes in school curricula and the way media approach women, with a view to giving them their political and social rights. Swedish Ambassador in Cairo Malin Kärre, who also attended the meeting, spoke about the struggle of women in her country for equality. She said there were similarities between Egypt and Sweden, in that Swedish women were politically underrepresented for a long time. "There was time when there were only four women in the Swedish Cabinet," Kärre said. "Now they make up half of the Cabinet." Kärre told her audience, who'd come from as far as Libya and Tunisia, that they had to choose their own strategies to get their rights. She also stressed the importance of economic independence for women's political emancipation.
