Source: Forbes
As a young woman working in public policy in Washington, D.C., who has also lived in Egypt for many years, I impart words of hope for my Egyptian female friends:
Be steadfast:
Like your counterparts in the American women who defied a society and defined the successful women’s suffrage movement in the U.S. that led to the equal rights for women under the law.
Some say the status of women was better off before the revolution. Women had gained new rights under the leadership of First Lady Suzanne Mubarak, who launched initiatives such as the nonprofit Women’s International Peace Movement in 2003, headed the National Council for Women and supported the legislation in 2010 that created the quota to elect 64 female parliamentarians. Yet since the revolution, men have dissolved the quota for female parliamentarians and sought to abolish laws associated with Suzanne Mubarak largely because the policies she championed are tied to the overthrown regime.
We continue to see the media reporting a setback to the rights of women despite the new found confidence women have exerted by protesting in the streets. Sexual intimidation is being used as a tactic to control and deter women from voicing their rights and opinions in public. It is becoming the norm to see female protestors subjected to physical abuse in the streets of Tahrir.
Follow the footsteps: Of powerful women who have made a difference in their countries like 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner and defender of women’s right Tawakkol Karman and her struggle to overcome adversity in Yemen.
There has been a wave of new laws introduced into parliament in the past few months that have sparked public debate and outraged women across Egypt.Reuters article on June 7 says Egypt’s state council for women is under attack by conservatives that have sought to take away a woman’s right to divorce. Egypt’s National Council for Women continues to be a public voice for women. In April, the Council appealed to parliament not to pass policies like early-age-marriages and sex-after-death laws, opposed new legislation to allow female circumcision, and called to vote down bans on women’s right to education and employment according to religious interpretation. We can expect that these rights will continue to be under attack in the coming months. We must call on the international community to pressure the Egyptian government to allow peaceful debates under the country’s democratically elected government. We must also urge the Egyptian government to uphold the equal rights of women.
Use Your Own Power: Let leading global women be an inspiration – political figures like Benazir Bhutto and Hillary Clinton, businesswomen such as Lubna Olayan and Oprah Winfrey, and social leaders such as Queen Rania of Jordan and Angelina Jolie – for their power to change the 21st century.
The Egyptian youth were at the forefront of the revolution in early 2011. Last week, they largely boycotted the second round of presidential elections and now feel disenfranchised from the democratic process. I continue to follow the sentiments of my young Egyptian female friends through Facebook and text messages. I hear their fear of the unknown and their worry that their rights will be taken away. But most of all, I hear their desire to be peace builders and their confidence that they will take part in leading the country forward.