Egyptian Women Reflect on Post-Revolution Progress

A year ago women filled the streets in Egypt. 

 

They came out en mass calling for an end of the regime. 

             

A year later they are still out on the streets. 

 

Some question just what women got out of the revolution.

              

Only ten women were elected to Parliament, after a quota for female representation was dropped.

              

There are also fears amongst some women that the victory of Islamist parties in parliamentary elections will lead to a more conservative interpretation of women's rights in areas like employment and family law.              

 

[Nagla Hasan,Woman Demonstrator]:              

"I don't think there has been any change in women's rights for over a hundred years. It's remained the same. A woman, when she runs in any syndicate, association, or any institution in general, she doesn't win, she loses. This is because of the mindset, the mindset of the public itself. They don't believe that women can hold any important post that requires trust."              

One young woman said she was in favor of a more conservative religious interpretation of the role of women in society, and that many women pushing for equal status were misinformed.              

 

[Demonstrator]:              

"In general it was said that women had rights before the revolution, but the problem is that women have an incorrect understanding of their rights. Women think that they should go out and work, and stand up to their husband and say: 'I have money just like you do.' This is wrong. When my religion was revealed it said I should remain at home, honored, and protected as if I'm a queen, and my husband can go out to work and wear himself out. And I get my rights through my religion not through a revolution. What the revolution can do is to allow women to understand what their rights are, because we understood our rights incorrectly."              

 

Islamist parties like the Muslim Brotherhood insist that they will not push for a change in the status of women and that women will be equally represented in the government in the future.

              

While elections during the Mubarak era were largely fraudulent, a quota did ensure that women were guaranteed at least 12 percent of the seats in parliament, or 64 out of the 508 seats in the last legislature.