The Future for Egyptian Feminists

I chose to research feminism in Egypt focusing on the post-Arab Spring period. I was really optimistic going into this project, I thought that because the Egyptian people had overthrown the dictator Hosni Mubarak, then the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Morsi, and had found someone they were fairly confident with Abdel el-Fattah Sisi, the women would be in a better position. However, I quickly realized that the problems omen in Egypt have had  for the past few decades involving basic human rights are still evident. The right to be able to work, for example. The first article to illustrate this idea, which can be found here, is a macro picture of how women participate in the business world in Egypt, while the second article is more of a micro look at one woman. The first article raises two interesting points, the first is that women account for only 11% of entrepreneurs in Egypt and second that the two women showcased in the article wore full-face veils which is done by only 1 out of every 10 women in Egypt. The other article depicts the story of a woman who was forced to dress as a man for forty years to clean shoes on the street to support her family. Clearly, the roles of women in business are not advancing as well as would be helped. Two articles that aid to the understanding of this topic were taken from the book Controversies in Globalization and features an article by Isobel Coleman called “Council on Foreign Relations” and Marcia Greenberg, “Independent Gender Mainstreaming Consultant.” Coleman takes the position of the proponent of the normative question: “Gender: Should the U.S. Aggressively Promote Women’s Rights in Developing Nations?”, while Greenberg offers a counter-argument. Coleman argues that women’s rights are inherently connected with human rights and are therefore included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which is a US foreign policy. On the other hand, Greenberg says that it should be a priority for the US and all nations to promote women’s rights and human rights in general, however she says that this is no easy task.

The Constitution that emerged in 2012 was an unfortunate document that espoused Sharia, or religious law. The Islamists used Sharia to dominate the 2012 constitution to the detriment of minority rights, the new Egyptian constitution obligates the state to promote and guarantee equality between men and women in all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and provides protection to women from any form of violence. An example of two articles that exhibit how the new Constitution actually changed are “World Report on Trafficking Humans: 20% of Victims are Children; Women Dominate the Trafficking” and “Fifty Shades of Grey boycotted by domestic violence, anti-porn groups” had to do with the ways in which women are changing since the revolutions of the Arab Spring. These articles portray different sides of the issue of the way women are dealing with sexuality, the business and personal side of it. As seen through the banning of “50 Shades of Grey” the government finds it dangerous for women to view the movie because they are not supposed to feel pleasure or try different things in the bedroom and the movie would encourage that even though it is already happening. This approach seems to be a Political Realism approach, by making the movie seem blasphemous this shows the strong state leadership, and because of the influx of women in the sex trafficking industry this shows that the state is mostly being run by one party politics and there is little checks and balances and rampant corruption. Another related concept is Female Genital Mutilation, which I looked at along with literacy rates. In both of these cases, there have been only minimal improvements, and women are the ones who are suffering the most. And oddly enough, in the case of FGM I have found that over half of the women, 69%, are consenting to have their daughters mutilated the same way they were (article). It would seem that these people are either brainwashed or feel culturally pressured to continue this highly painful and deeply personal thing. Both the rising illiteracy rates and the lack of a significant decline in FGM in Egypt paint the picture of a country that is still struggling to change from its old ways.

Apparently there was an issue with something called “sexual jihad.” This article talks about what measures are being taken in Egypt and other countries in Northern Africa to discourage women from joining with jihad. With the growing number of people in Northern Africa and the Middle East looking to join the jihad it is estimated that women make up 20%. The other article has to do with the apparent “sexual jihad” that women were accused of during the summer of 2013. It was said that Egyptian women would launch a “sexual jihad” in support of the Muslim Brotherhood and deposed president Mohamed Morsi, but has been branded a hoax.

The “new constitution,” of 2014, refers to an amended version of the one that was made in 2012. The word of citizen/citizenship is stated 53 times compared to 28 in the 2012 constitution. Additionally, the preamble stipulates that: “We the citizens, women and men, the Egyptian people, sovereigns in a sovereign homeland, this is the manifestation of our volition, this is the Constitution of our revolution”. The new constitution outlines lots of rights for women and deleted the quota of women in politics on principle. On the referendum day, it was obvious that women overwhelmed men in many polling stations, and that elderly people overwhelmed the youth. What was striking was the degree of enthusiasm and festivity that accompanied the occasion in an unprecedented way: people, including women, were dancing and chanting national songs, many were carrying the flags and the posters of Marshall El SiSi who has become the national hero since the revolution of June 2014. The article “Women in Egyptian Elections: Social Voting and Political Rock Stars” is an article from the blog AR by Ahmed Rehab, which described the actual process the women in Egypt went through to vote, as well as the emotions the women felt because many of them were only able to vote for the first time and the vote was such a monumental one. For comparison, the other source was an article from the website Egypt Today, called “Women in Parliament: Gender Justice for Egyptian Women?” which emphasized the question mark in the title. While the first source takes a more positive approach the second article is more cynical. The second article quotes the noted activist and psychologist Nawal Al-Sa’dawi who said that Egypt’s women are simply used as “fuel for the revolution and as a voting bloc in elections, but are then returned to their place after the election season. She is used only as a tool for service and reproduction” (“Women in Parliament”). This quote illustrates a remarkably different picture of what the first article says: “the most interesting conversations were about the candidates we were supposed to be electing into parliament. Women were not only evaluating political orientations and candidate programs…” (“Women in Egyptian Elections”). The two articles paint very different pictures of the voting scene for women in 2011, but they are both optimistic, at least at the end of the articles, regarding the influence that women will having on elections in the future.

To look at Sisi specifically, I found two articles that have to do with the President and how the treatment of women has changed since he was elected. The first article poses the question “are Egypt’s women really better off under Sisi?” and further discusses whether or not women have more rights under Sisi than they did before his rule. The article actually offers a fairly objective overview of how Sisi has interacted with women on the street and what the new constitution says about women. The second article talks about the new amendments posed for the Egyptian Constitution and how this may effect women. This article from “the Jurist” talks about the proposed amendments which would infringe upon the rights of all Egyptians, and especially women, simply because their rights are already so violated. The new amendments would give the judge in a trial the sole power to determine what witnesses may speak. The perspective on globalization that this post addresses is that of the Political Realist because the state is trying to use government power and, if that fails, military power in an effort to see their views carried out.

Still, women are fighting for their rights and to be heard by men and they are being killed for it. The first article, which can be found here, details the killing of women’s rights activist Shaimaa Sabbagh on January 25, 2015. The other article is about the unlawful detainment of Azza Soliman, the cofounder of the Cairo-based Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA), and it can be found here. The injustice of both women’s stories have sparked protests throughout Egypt.  Azza was among the small group that Shaimaa had been in when she was killed and Azza testified as a witness in the trial. The night after she testified she was held overnight and threatened with charges of breaking the law against public protests, and on March 23, 2015 the Egyptian prosecutors decided to go after her as a defendant rather than a witness. This is an unbelievable breach of legal and human rights.

Movies, television, and really any form of social media can be an incredibly effective tool in spreading awareness and igniting change, as can be seen in the role technology played in the success of the revolutions of the Arab Spring. Two articles I looked at that reflect this idea; one of the articles was centered around an investigation about the treatment of women in Egyptian prisons, it can be found here. The other article I found was written about the terrible abuse women are subject to in Egyptian prisons, I think this was a good way to learn about an issue because I first read about the problem, and then I found an article detailing a possible solution- which was a very successful movie that was made to raise awareness about the issue.

The future of women’s rights in Egypt is hopeful, but there are challenges in the short-term. The first article that presents this idea is “Egypt’s electoral labyrinth undermines women’s political representation,” which looks at the growing concerns that are coming out of the political arena for women in Egypt, which can be found here. The second article, which can be found here, is called “Why is Egypt Prosecuting Human Rights Defenders?” and is highly critical of the government for prosecuting seemingly innocent people, especially women, who spoke out against some aspect of the government they did not feel was humane or fair. The first article points out changes that were made over the last four years since the Arab Spring that should have led to greater roles for women in politics have lately been overturned. The perspectives of globalization that these articles represent are Cosmopolitan because they are looking outside the realm of law and politics to find solutions that will truly reflect the will of the people. Now, the perspective on globalization seems more like the women have to shift to a Cosmopolitan perspective to combat the violence and oppression they are still facing They will need to utilize NGO’s, networks to form strong human sentiment. They also represent the Cosmopolitan perspective because they are hopeful towards globalization because they want the Western views of women to spread to the Middle East.

By looking at current news sources, government statistics, and various other sources, I have gained a broad understanding of how the Egyptian government and the Egyptian women interact and influence one another. I could not have gained all of this knowledge from one chapter in a textbook because it is so important to read lots of different sources to truly understand a topic, especially one as controversial and abstract as feminism. This project has definitely helped me to understand the challenges the women in Egypt have faced, overcome, and are still facing today.

5 thoughts on “The Future for Egyptian Feminists

  1. The second article shows the true resiliency of the people in the region. For that woman to do what she did to survive is astounding. No wonder they have revolted in the face of oppression.

  2. Great presentation, Shea! Very detailed and specific information from your research connected to good analysis and perspective.

  3. I think that issues of laws being in place but not being followed is a big issue in the middle east. The story you shared of the woman who dressed like a man is very sad and yet heartwarming. It is amazing what she was able to do to help her family but extremely sad that she had to go to such an extent to support herself and her children. Presentation was very informative!

  4. From the looks of your blog, it seems to me that you have a firm understanding and strong interest in feminism in Egypt. Very well presented, good job!

  5. Great job putting this topic into perspective and connecting it to the persepctives on globalization. I liked that you stressed how this has shifted and that it is important it is be incorporated into everyday life.

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