{"id":3412,"date":"2011-03-10T13:56:43","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T13:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/?p=3412"},"modified":"2011-03-10T13:56:43","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T13:56:43","slug":"international-womens-day-and-egypts-25-january-revolution-what-do-the-women-stand-to-gain-from-their-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/international-womens-day-and-egypts-25-january-revolution-what-do-the-women-stand-to-gain-from-their-struggle\/","title":{"rendered":"International Women\u2019s Day and Egypt\u2019s 25 January Revolution: What Do the Women Stand to Gain From Their Struggle?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"http:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/100_2978.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3413\" title=\"100_2978\" src=\"http:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/100_2978-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>Will process result in any tangible gains f<\/strong><strong>or the majority of\u00a0 women who participated fully in the struggle?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>International Women\u2019s Day is observed each year on the 8<sup>th<\/sup> of March since the 1900s. This year\u2019s commemoration happens just weeks  after the women of North Africa and the Middle East courageously, and  alongside their male counterparts, participated fully in the struggle  for freedom, equality, democracy, participatory governance and justice  in their own respective countries. They participated as equals, were  exposed to the same cruel conditions as male participants, suffered the  same consequences as everyone else and did not seek any special  treatment but change with equal opportunities for all. The question  worth asking at this stage is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>will their full participation  during the revolution result in their full involvement and  representation in the structures that are currently deliberating the  future of their countries?<\/li>\n<li>or will they be marginalised and pushed back to their \u2018traditional\u2019 roles in society?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Commenting  on South Africa\u2019s situation, Sheila Meintjies notes the significant  role that SA women played in the fight against apartheid but asks \u201chow  would this participation be translated into electoral politics and  representative democracy?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Would women\u2019s presence be reflected in political and material gains for women in society?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These  questions remain relevant in light of the disturbing developments in  Egypt. The brutal and sexual assault on CBS reporter Lara Logan during  the uprisings is again a \u00a0stark reminder of the challenges that women  still faces since the first celebration of Women\u2019s Day in 1911.<\/p>\n<p>The  reality for Egyptian women at present is that they have been completely  marginalised in the nation building process with very few of them  having been appointed to serve in structures tasked with deciding the  country\u2019s future. The complete absence of women in the Constitutional  Committee amending Egypt\u2019s constitution makes mockery of the January 25  revolution which was moulded around the ideals of equality; freedom and  the involvement of all citizens in decisions affecting their lives.  \u00a0Women organisations and other movements like the <a title=\"Egyptian Center for Women\u2019s Rights\" href=\"http:\/\/www.talkafrique.com\/topics\/egyptian-center-for-women%e2%80%99s-rights\">Egyp<\/a><a title=\"Egyptian Center for Women\u2019s Rights\" href=\"http:\/\/www.talkafrique.com\/topics\/egyptian-center-for-women%e2%80%99s-rights\">tian Center for Women\u2019s Rights<\/a> and the <a title=\"Egyptian Coalition for Civic Education and Women\u2019s Participation\" href=\"http:\/\/www.talkafrique.com\/topics\/egyptian-coalition-for-civic-education-and-women%e2%80%99s-participation\">Egyptian Coalition for Civic Education and Women\u2019s Participation<\/a> have already raised concerns over these developments. A few weeks back,  the Egyptian Center for Women\u2019s Rights circulated a petition which  raised concerns over the exclusive nature of the Constitutional  committee. The Egyptian Coalition consisting of around 102 NGO\u2019s also  issued a statement condemning the amendments to the Constitution which  will make men the only candidates eligible for appointment to the  position of the President.<\/p>\n<p>Countries who have undergone Egypt\u2019s  journey in recent years would know of the necessity to have  constitutions that best represent the aspirations and dreams of all  citizens. In order for Egypt\u2019s constitution to be legitimate, the  process of making it must be inclusive and speak to the diversity of  views and needs of its entire people and be highly considerate of  women\u2019s issues and concerns. South Africa\u2019s Constitution which is  regarded as the best in the world is a direct product of processes which  never fell short of seeking to encompass the multiplicity of views  within the nation. As a result, South Africa\u2019s Constitution guarantees  women\u2019s rights; and affords equal treatment of all people irrespective  of gender, sex, race, religion, belief, culture and so on. Egypt can  also learn from the constitutions of countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Iraq  and Nepal which guarantees women\u2019s rights and political rights.<\/p>\n<p>No  one denies that different conditions exist in all countries, however,  the rights of all people including women transcend boundaries. The  importance of these rights also find expression in the Convention on All  Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Beijing Platform for Action,  the <a title=\"Protocol to the African Commission on Human and People\u2019s Rights on the Rights of women in Africa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.talkafrique.com\/topics\/protocol-to-the-african-commission-on-human-and-people%e2%80%99s-rights-on-the-rights-of-women-in-africa\">Protocol to the African Commission on Human and People\u2019s Rights on the Rights of women in Africa<\/a>; and \u00a0the <a title=\"Millennium Development Goals\" href=\"http:\/\/www.talkafrique.com\/topics\/millennium-development-goals\">Millennium Development Goals<\/a>.  It is no secret that Egyptian women have a lot of challenges to deal  with and these challenges are openly discussed in various reports by the  Egyptian Center for Women\u2019s Rights on the status of Egyptian women.  These reports speak to the needs for the strengthening of laws on sexual  harassment, rape, women\u2019s health and reproductive rights, domestic  violence, honor crimes, female circumcision, human trafficking of women  as sex workers, divorce laws,\u00a0 inheritance laws, ownership and property  rights. In light of these challenges it is clear that it can only be  through participating fully in the Constitution making process and other  structures building Egypt that women of that country can best ensure  that the future holds a better and brighter life for Egypt\u2019s daughters  and mothers.<\/p>\n<p>As the deliberations continue women should hang on to  the revolution spirit and ensure that it delivers for them as well.  Egypt\u2019s revolution would be half achieved if it does not speak to the  needs, dreams, and aspirations of all the people who made it possible.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.talkafrique.com\/politics\/international-women-day-egypt-uprising-revolution-women-right-equality-participatory-governance\" target=\"_blank\">talk Afrique<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Will process result in any tangible gains for the majority of\u00a0 women who participated fully in the struggle? International Women\u2019s Day is observed each year on<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwrcegypt.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}