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University of Milan, Italy This book was written almost thirty years ago, therefore we could be asked why we are reviewing it now? The answer is quite easy and it emerges after reading half of the book: it is worth reading such a book to confirm that little has changed as far as political representation and that from that vital perspective women in Egypt still have a long way to go. We stress this point as Egypt is usually seen as a country where women enjoy a better legal and social position than in other Arab countries. Regrettably, it is not so. According to Sullivan, there were thirty five women in Egyptian parliament (majlis al-shaab) in 1983 (p. 43). In 2003, during the elections of 29 November the situation looked like this: "Most political parties are endorsing mere handfuls of women candidates in the 29 November parliamentary elections. The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) says it will field at least 15 women, the Wafd Party is pledging support for around five, the Islamist-oriented Labour Party is nominating three, and the leftist Tagammu, one. Another woman is standing on behalf of the Women's Union. The Nasserist Democratic Party, citing a lack of qualified women, is not including any on its list of candidates" (italic are mine). This quotation, taken from Al-Ahram weekly, shows how the number of women in political life, after thirty years, diminished instead of increasing. Starting from this statement we can ask ourselves why? A possible answer could focus on the role of Islam in the region, but this is an old story, and not a useful explanation. The Egyptian political system entrusts the president with the role of representing the traditional and national values while women’s issues are sidelined. It is very difficult for women to go on struggling for the recognition of their rights when the job is assigned to the "presidential wives" (pp. 79 and following). Concentrating only on the third one mentioned in the book, Suzanne Mubarak the wife of the actual President, we note that although she is doing a great job in promoting Egyptian women’s social condition, she does not represent the majority of these women who therefore can not identify themselves with her and her struggle and who are hardly represented in Parliament. Certainly, she has often admitted that one of the big problems to solve in Egypt is the illiteracy among women. She travelled all over the world and really did a lot to change this situation; for example she promoted the publishing of works in Arabic by new young Egyptian women writers; but the short novels of the collection present an educated woman, yes, who works, but whose dreams still remain love and family, which are traditional values. It is not surprising then that with the lack of female Parliamentary power The New Woman Research Centre (NWRC), one of the first Egyptian organisations to adopt an advocacy approach to addressing Egyptian women's rights, was rejected by the Ministry of Social Affairs due to "security reasons" and had to win a legal battle against the Ministry, which had been refusing to register the organisation under current NGO Law 84 of 2002. Founded in 1984 by a group of female activists with a common vision, the NWRC has been actively advocating women's rights through research, workshops and campaigns addressing issues such as violence against women, reproductive health rights and women's public image. The group's founders played a particularly prominent preparatory role in both the International Conference for Population and Development (ICPD) that took place in Cairo in 1994, as well as the Beijing Women's Conference in 1995. Of course what we are saying does not intend to disregard the progress achieved so far by Egyptian women and it does not mean that they suffer from the same conditions of the beginning of the 90s for example. Nevertheless we note that Western scholars generally tend to ascribe to single positive events a value they do not have: The condition of Egyptian and indeed of women from all over the world won’t change if there are no laws establishing principles and no women in Parliament to push for them. It is, of course, a problem of legitimacy. In the end it must be noted that, although the book is well written and highly informative, it does not go beyond a factual description. Maybe this is due to the fact that it was published in 1986 and that research has come a long way since then. Still it is useful to have a clearer picture of the situation from an historical point of view. |
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