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She and elections

Nazra for Feminist Studies (Nazra) released a report about mentoring* women candidates in the 2011-12 People’s Assembly Elections based on its observations of the electoral process and the experience of several women candidates.

Nazra reached these findings by supporting (16) women candidates for the People’s Assembly, either nominated on political party  lists or running as individual candidates, in eight governorates in Upper and Lower Egypt.

Nazra’s report, “She and Elections”, presents an overview of the general electoral climate and documents the experience of candidates in various phases of the elections, as well as the difficulties and challenges posed by the legal and political contexts.

Nazra for Feminist Studies will issue the final report after the conclusion of parliamentary elections, including elections for the Shura Council (Upper House of Parliament), which is still underway. Nazra will host a roundtable with successful women candidates, where they will discuss the challenges they faced and how they overcame them. The event will also witness the  screening of the documentary, “She and Elections,” which presents the women candidtes’  experiences of the elections.

Egypt: Islamist, liberal parties fielded few female candidates, says report

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2012-02-01 14:39

Summary: 

Neither the Islamist nor liberal parties fielded a significant number of female candidates on their lists in the recently held parliamentary elections, a report revealed.

The report, issued by a program at Nazra for Feminist Studies, showed that the average Islamist party list was made up of 16 percent female candidates, while “civil” parties — often considered more liberal — averaged 17.5 percent women on their lists.

In its report, Nazra’s Academy for Women’s Political Participation program investigates why so few women were successful in their bid for parliament and explains how few women ran in the first place.

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Read more in The Daily News Egypt, published 1. February


Egypt: Women heed warning from Iranian women on rights

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2012-01-31 13:54

Summary: 

Sanaa Roshdy, 54, a housewife in Cairo, Egypt's capital, was one of many Egyptians who watched the warning message in a YouTube video that began to circulate last year named "Message From Iranian Women to Tunisian and Egyptian Women."

The video features pictures of the life of Iranian women before and after the Islamic revolution there in 1979. Depicting a reversal of women's rights with the implementation of Islamic rule after the revolution, the video warns women in Egypt and Tunisia to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to them after revolutions in both countries a year ago and Islamic groups looking to assume leadership.

"I've heard people talking about the resemblance between the Egyptian revolution and the Islamic revolution many times," Roshdy says. "It never made sense to me until I saw this video."

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Read more in Trust Law, published 29 Jan


Women, Revolution, Politics and Power

During the Arab uprisings, an unprecedented number of women took to the streets, paving the way for a more important role in politics. However, in the transitional period that follows, they now have to fight against their exclusion from the political arena.

The extent of their participation in the new political process, the author argues, will depend on three main factors: their contribution to the democratic culture established, the nature and role of political Islam, as well as gender representation in the news media. As her research in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Syria suggests, the fight to carry the women‘s newly found political status through the transitional period will blur the conflict lines between the „traditional-religious“ and the „urban-modern-non-religious“ blocs. Arab women are finding new forms of political participation, distinct from the Western models.

Arab States: No Arab Spring without women

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2012-01-27 12:59

Summary: 

Under the banner of “No Spring without Women,” a Lebanese feminist organisation has organized a march in Beirut, as part of the 5th New Arab Woman Forum. The slogan of the march is “Sawa Sawa”, which in this context means “Let’s walk together, let’s make it together”, calling for a Spring that includes both men and women. Before getting the invitation to this march, my mind was already preoccupied with the future of Arab women after the revolutions and how women’s status might be impacted in each of the Arab countries. My concern is: can there be Arab union or organisation to sustain Arab women’s status in the post-revolution era?

Women in the Arab world have suffered in the revolutions, but the question now is, what will the outcome of all this suffering and sacrifice be? To date, the revolutions have not resulted in any improvement in women’s status. In Egypt, there are now voices saying that women should leave the revolution to men, and during a demonstration on International Women’s Day in March, men jeered at the women marching, telling them to go home and feed their babies.

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Read more in Alarbiya.net, published 25 January


Egypt: Experts weigh in on low female representation in parliament

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2012-01-27 12:55

Summary: 

Very few female candidates ran in the nation’s parliamentary elections and even fewer have been elected: 10 took the oath last Monday.

Eight women elected and two appointed women make up less than two percent of the 508 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament. Considering the proportion of women who applied, the chances weren’t big. In the capital for example, only 80 women ran compared to 1,010 men.

Echoing the concern that parties were playing politics early on was Omaima Kamel, one of the newly elected parliament members under the Freedom and Justice Party. “Women are put to fulfill criteria on the list,” she said, explaining that parties were worried women won’t have a positive impact on the lists in terms of attracting voters.

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Read more in The Daily News Egypt


Iknow Politics attended the Change Your World!—Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Summit on Women, Technology and Social/Digital Media

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2012-01-26 04:22

Summary: 

The event, took place in Cairo 18 January 2012, was organized by Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Program, Yahoo! Maktoob, in partnership with Vital Voices, under the banner of "Change Your World!"


The summit brought together women in leadership roles from across the MENA region, to discuss how women can use technology and the web to drive positive change.

 

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iKnow Politics was presented in the panel of “After the Revolution: Elections and e-governance” which discussed the key roles of women in the creating change across the MENA region. The panel discussed how is women leading in the post-revolutionary world? How are technology, the Internet and media being used as platforms for launching campaigns, creating consensus, becoming political leaders, and supporting good governance? What advice or strategies would women who have run give to those waiting in the wings? iKnow Politics was highlighted as an online platform that connect women in MENA together and with other women in politics in the different regions in the world; with members exceeding 13000 from those regions who exchange information and knowledge in this important subject.


Egypt: women missing from formal politics

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Mon, 2012-01-23 13:39

Summary: 

The remarkable revelation of the Egyptian revolution concerns women. It turns out that the women of Egypt are at the heart of our politics.

Since January 2011, a new wave of recognition for women’s political leadership and dynamism has swept the country. It began with female bloggers who inspired action through their words, and continued with hundreds of thousands of women from all over Egypt standing side by side with men in the streets and in Tahrir. Ladies also launched clashes between Copts and Muslims by their choices of lovers and religions. There are also the activists who have maintained a plethora of popular protest movements against military transgressions for the rights of the dead and injured and on behalf of unlawful detainment and torture in prisons.

...

Yet women are near absent from this parliament. There are eight women who have succeeded in winning seats and two who have been appointed. That means that two per cent of parliament has gone to women. The world average for female representation in elected legislative bodies is 19 per cent and the Arab world average is 13 per cent.

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Read more in Ahram online, publised 22. Jan


Egypt: Revolt Loses Legitimacy as Brotherhood Ignores Women Abuse

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2012-01-19 07:28

Summary: 

A group of men gathered around Amira El Bakry in Tahrir Square as she brandished a newspaper photo that shocked many Egyptians. It showed troops dragging a female protester along the street, her robe ripped open to reveal a blue bra and bare midriff.

“Is this OK by you?” the 25-year-old El Bakry, her voice shaking with anger, asked the men, as they squinted at the picture and one suggested the protester was trying to cause a scene. Later, El Bakry marched through Tahrir with thousands of women to condemn the brutality and demand that Egypt’s military rulers step down. Some at the Dec. 20 rally wore tight jeans tucked in boots, others were in flowing robes and full-face veils. “The women of Egypt are a red line,” they chanted.

The scene recalled the mass protests of a year ago, also joined by women of all ages and backgrounds. El Bakry supported those efforts to topple Hosni Mubarak, yet she’s worried about the new political order too. Mubarak-era army chiefs are running the country, and Islamist parties with traditional notions of women and their rights are poised to win elections that end this week. “That could be a lose-lose situation for us,” she said. “But we have a role to play, and we’ll have to keep fighting for it.”

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Read more in Bloomberg, posted 18. Jan


Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Summit on Women, Technology and and Social/Digital Media

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2012-01-18 14:12
2012-01-18
US/Eastern
Click here
City & Province/State: 
Cairo
Country: 
Egypt
Venue: 

 Fairmont, Nile City  Cairo, Egypt

Description: 

The Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Program, along with Yahoo! Maktoob, and in partnership with Vital Voices, is hosting a summit in Cairo, Egypt on January 18, 2012.

Change Your World! Cairo 2012 will spotlight how women across the Middle East and North Africa are using technology, the Internet and various social and digital media platforms to create positive change in the world.

The Summit will be moderated by Mona Eltahawy and will focus on four primary areas: women’s leadership in governance and politics, women’s rights/human rights and social justice, journalism, and entrepreneurship. 

Confirmed participants include Dalia Ziada, Shereen Allam, and Danya Bashir Hobba.

To learn more about Change Your World! Cairo 2012, and the full line-up, please view the Agenda. If you’re based in the region and interested in attending, please see here.