Egypt's national body for women's issues, the National Council for Women, held a conference on Monday entitled "Egyptian women reject the draft constitution."
According to the Council's head, Mervat El-Tellawy, the draft constitution has not taken into consideration various international charters and agreements which Egypt has signed. Furthermore, the Al-Azhar document of suggested principles for all parties to abide by while writing the constitution has not been incorporated into the draft.
Attending the conference was Abdallah Qandeel, head of the administrative prosecutors committee, who criticised the head of the Constituent Assembly Hossam El-Gheriany for being opposed to women holding high ranks in the judiciary, despite the fact that there are 1,158 female administrative prosecutors, who are involved in resolving disputes between individuals and the government.
Prominent writers Farida El-Shobashy and Fatheya El-Asal also criticised members of the Constituent Assembly for being discriminatory against women. El-Asal complained that the assembly only contains seven women, of whom five are Muslim Brotherhood members, a group she alleged defended female circumcision.
Read more at Ahram Online, published 22 October 2012.
Egypt's national body for women's issues, the National Council for Women, held a conference on Monday entitled "Egyptian women reject the draft constitution."
According to the Council's head, Mervat El-Tellawy, the draft constitution has not taken into consideration various international charters and agreements which Egypt has signed. Furthermore, the Al-Azhar document of suggested principles for all parties to abide by while writing the constitution has not been incorporated into the draft.
Attending the conference was Abdallah Qandeel, head of the administrative prosecutors committee, who criticised the head of the Constituent Assembly Hossam El-Gheriany for being opposed to women holding high ranks in the judiciary, despite the fact that there are 1,158 female administrative prosecutors, who are involved in resolving disputes between individuals and the government.
Prominent writers Farida El-Shobashy and Fatheya El-Asal also criticised members of the Constituent Assembly for being discriminatory against women. El-Asal complained that the assembly only contains seven women, of whom five are Muslim Brotherhood members, a group she alleged defended female circumcision.
Read more at Ahram Online, published 22 October 2012.