CAIRO - She can't believe her eyes. Soldiers are beating and dragging a woman along the street during a protest last month. The woman's clothing is ripped by the helmeted soldiers, her midriff is exposed and her blue bra is clearly visible as one of them stomps on her. It was a very ugly scene, but no-one dared try to save the girl in the blue bra, except another young woman called Ghada Kamal, who courageously rushed to towards the victim, only for herself to receive a brutal beating too. "They dragged me by the hair and beat me with sticks. They kicked me savagely with their military boots, in the chest and head. I couldn't breathe and then I passed out. "When I woke up, people were carrying me to a nearby hospital. My head was bleeding. After I was discharged, I went home. My body was black and blue and my face was like a balloon. I went to file a case, but I knew they wouldn't do anything," Ghada, a 28-year-old pharmacist, told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview. Ghada was one of thousands of female protesters who participated in January 25 Revolution in Tahrir Square. She dreams of an Egypt where people live decent lives, having achieved the battle cry of the revolution ��" bread, freedom and social justice. Her role model is Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, the ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture. Since the revolution, she has been helping to treat the injured in Tahrir. She herself was injured and her hand was broken in the so-called Mohamed Mahmoud St. clashes, which erupted two months ago between protesters and policemen. Ghada hails the spirit of the people in Tahrir during the revolution. Rich and poor alike protested together for a common dream ��" freeing Egypt of an unjust regime. "Neither will women nor the martyrs' families get their rights unless the symbols of the old, rotten regime are tried," she stressed. People in the streets have reacted differently to the case of Ghada and the girl in the blu bra. Some sympathise with them, others, especially men, blame them and other girls for leaving their homes and participating in the protests. This incident was followed by female activists launching a call in the social media for women to form a ‘frontline'. This prompted thousands of Egyptian women to come out and protest, but they were encircled by a phalanx of male protectors. Many clasped posters of the girl in the blue bra as they chanted, “The girls of Egypt are here. The women of Egypt are a red line.” "Those who criticise our presence in protests or those who watched me and the girl in the blue bra being beaten have done nothing except attack us with words. These men haven't the courage to do anything, so they blame us for doing so. "The revolution continues. After that, the decision-makers can talk about the next step for political and economic reform," she added. Socialists say that women have been marginalised and ‘violated' since the revolution; there have been attempts to exclude them from the political scene. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), who took the power to govern Egypt after Mubarak stepped down last February, has been criticised for cancelling the quota of female MPs. In the 2010 elections, a parliamentary quota gave Egyptian women 64 seats ��" roughly 12 per cent of the legislature. The National Council of Women (NCW), which was formed and run by Mubarak's wife, intends to continue representing the women of Egypt. But it did not stand up for women's rights during the revolution, while several of its members are suspected of corruption and will soon be prosecuted. Also, after the headquarters of National Council for Women's Rights (NCWR) were torched during the revolution, some men began demanding that the Government revise all laws related to marriage, divorce, and even child custody and visitation. For these reasons, many women flocked to the streets on March 8 and held a ‘Million Women's March' in Cairo, highlighting their hopes of playing an active part in building a new Egypt. They were shocked when they were harassed and intimidated by a counter-protest, made up mainly of men. As the women, who were marching on International Women's Day, found themselves surrounded by men who chanted ‘The people want to bring down women', a variation on the ‘The people want to bring down the regime', the Egyptian revolution's motto. These scenes prompted Iman Beibars, the head of the Association for Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW), an NGO, who was among ladies on that day, to write a book entitled Nisaa men Midan (Women from the Square). "These ugly scenes shocked me. Did the men forget these women, who faced the tear gas alongside them day and night during the 18-day protests? Did they think that the role of women was limited to the 18-day revolution, after which they would once again be 'minus' creatures with no rights? "This is why I decided to write this book, which sheds light on the women who participated in the revolution. I have interviewed them and the families of the female martyrs, to stress that I don't want women to be discriminated against," Iman added. In the recent parliamentary elections, the first since Hosni Mubarak's ousting, the Islamists won big. In fact, women suffered a shocking disappointment. Although the final numbers haven't been announced, it appears that women only occupy ten of 508 seats. Also, the names of the women who ran on the party lists were at the bottom of these lists, meaning they had virtually no chance of getting into office. And that was true of all parties, Islamist as well as liberal. Despite this dark picture, Bothaina Kamel, a TV anchor, is going to run in the presidential elections. But would society accept having a woman president? Islamic preachers have said that a woman can't be president because her menstruation incapacitates her. "Any transitional phase has its own dangers. We demand the reconstruction of the security, media and judicial institution; we call for independence of the judiciary. “We can't deny that there are foreign pressures on Egypt," said Mona Zulfikar, a lawyer and a member of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR). "All this has a bad effect on the marginalised and minorities in Egypt, especially women. Unfortunately, the SCAF's 'bad administration' of the transitional period is making life more dangerous for such people," she added in a recent seminar held in Cairo. "All political forces feel that there is a real danger in this transitional phase, which is why they are urging people to return to Tahrir Square on January 25th," Mona stressed, explaining that no-one knows what might happen. The NCHR approved the proposal made by Mona, in the form of a draft law on equal opportunity and prohibition of discrimination between citizens, in early 2008. But, unfortunately, it has yet to be approved. "I have great hopes that the new Parliament will approve it," she added. "We need to form a union for women to protect them from any violence they might suffer. This union should include simple women, like street vendors and uneducated women in the villages and poor shantytowns, side by side with educated and well-to-do women from all Egyptian governorates," says Samira Ibrahim, 25, the woman behind Egypt's ban of virginity tests. Samira and 16 other women were among 172 people arrested in one demonstration. The women were shoved inside a police van and taken to a detention centre, where Army officers threatened them with prostitution charges. To prove their innocence, Samira and the other girls were forced to take their clothes off and undergo a virginity test, performed by a male doctor, in a room with open windows and doors, through which many soldiers were peering. Unlike the others, Samira chose not to remain silent and pursued legal action against her abusers. She filed two suits, one demanding this practice be banned and another accusing an officer of sexual assault. Last month, the Egyptian courts ordered the country's military rulers to ban the use of the ‘virginity test' on female detainees. Samira's lawyers were hopeful that the military doctor who performed the procedure would be charged with sexual assault. But, against all expectations, on January 2, the judge charged him with performing an act of indecency, fining him $50 and jailing him for a maximum of 12 months. The ruling has been condemned by human rights organisations and Samira's lawyers will appeal the verdict. "The violator has taken away our dignity," Samira told the same seminar. “Nothing has changed since the revolution, except our mobile numbers," she said, disapprovingly. "I hope that, now I have won my case, there will be a new law to prevent women having their bodies violated in prison," added Samira, who has lost her job as the general manager of a prominent marketing firm because of this incident.
