WUNRN
EGYPT - HIGH NUMBER OF WOMEN VOTERS
Women
in
Hazel
Haddon - 29 Nov 2011
Preliminary reports from the
first day of
However,
some women’s rights campaigners fear that, despite the enthusiasm of female
voters, the new parliament will see a record low in the number of women
elected.
Women,
who were given the vote in 1956, have historically been under-represented in
political life in
In
May 2011, however, the ruling military council removed the quota for women, a
move criticised by some women’s rights groups. In a statement,
the Egyptian Coalition for Civil Education and Women's Participation argued
that the removal of the women’s quota would damage women’s political
participation, and questioned why it was removed when the quotas for “worker”
and “farmer” candidates were retained.
Speaking
at a seminar on Women and Elections held by the
Komsan
argued, however, that since the revolution, women’s voices had been neglected
by a military that “didn’t see women”, and that under the new electoral rules,
which require proportional lists to include female candidates but don’t
stipulate where they should be placed, many women’s names come at the end of
the lists, drastically reducing their chances of being elected.
In
recent months there have been controversies over how political parties and
electoral blocs deal with female candidates. Gameela Ismail, a prominent
activist and opposition figure, dropped out of the Muslim Brotherhood-led
Democratic Alliance list, saying that
she had been placed third rather than first on the list for the Downtown Cairo
district seat because the Brotherhood was reluctant to see women elected.
Some
campaigners, however, see representation in parliament as only one part of the
battle. Speaking to Ahram Online on Monday, Mozn Hassan, Executive Director of
the Nazra for Feminist Studies, argued that this election may see greater
turnout among middle and upper class women, in contrast to previous votes. But
Hassan said that high turnouts and quotas do not always mean that women are
empowered.
“Counting
is not the key…women must be in the public space, with equal rights, fully
involved.”
Hassan
emphasised the importance of women’s involvement in all areas of public and
political life, including the local councils and professional syndicates.
“Women
must have the space to choose what they want, and not what other people want
for them.”
“This
will be a hard battle…But the elections are a beginning, not an end.”