All of those running for
election can be classified into two categories; Islamists or
Secularists. But within each camp there are distinctions and gradations.
There are secularist
left-wing candidates, secularist autocrats and secularist old guard.
Then there are progressive Islamist, moderate Islamist, revolutionary
Islamist and right-wing ones. The one thing that they all have in common
is the banality of their engagement with women's rights and with
questions of gender justice.
Throughout the official
21 days of presidential propaganda, we the public have learned that all
the candidates "value" women and believe that women are half of the Egyptian society
and therefore should be respected and honored. A near century of
Egyptian feminism and our candidates can only offer a cloyingly
condescending stance on the rights of the voters who will enable one of
them to become a president.
This is the sad truth about Egyptian politics.
It is women who attend rallies, who accept trivial bribes of sugar and
rice and who stand in the very long queues to vote. Egypt segregates its
polling stations, so the remarkable length of women-only queues is
evident for all to see. Yet women are ignored as political agents and as
citizens in all presidential programs.
It is true that these
programs are very similar and are generally lacking but still, the
projections they make of women and their rights are noteworthy.
Female heads of houses
feature prominently in these programs. Women living in poverty are being
promised cash transfers, medical insurance and access to finance and
services. Yet these women need not wait for a new president as they are
already entitled to all these benefits!
Our candidates have also
promised women access to senior executive positions. Candidates like
Amr Mousa, Abu el Fotouh, Ahmed Shafeek and Hamdeen Sabbahi have said
"there is no objection to a woman becoming ..." then finishing the
sentence by referring to positions such as vice president or some other
senior function. This is also sadly a meaningless gesture since there
are no legal or constitutional barriers to a woman assuming high office
in any branch of the executive, legislature or now the judiciary.
Our candidates are promising to solve the problems that already have solutions, but what about the ones that don't?
What about to the
proliferation of gender discrimination? What about their position on
repeated attempts to repeal family-status laws that gave women the right
to unilateral divorce, which enabled women to keep custody and
guardianship of their children until the age of 15, instead of being
deprived of their seven-year-old sons or nine-year-old daughters if they
are divorced from the father?
Egypt has one of the lowest rates of female labor-force participation
(20%) in the world and perhaps the lowest rate of female representation
in parliament (2%). Women are present, vocal, active, but excluded and
undermined. The new president should have something to say about this
paradox. But perhaps candidates would rather remain silent on gender
issues so as to please their male supporters.
The current
constitutions of Egypt guarantee equality and rights to all citizens.
But the right to rights is a far cry from the attainment of these
rights.
Women in Egypt need a
vocal champion who will not interfere with their choice of clothes,
career or spouse, but who will guarantee that they have access to jobs,
to legal protection, and to freedom and equality within marriage and
outside it.
Women are given sugar,
rice and other staples so that they choose the generous candidate. They
are being cajoled and gently coerced to give their voices to the
candidate chosen by their family or kin. They are not, however,
respected as political agents nor "courted" as supporters with interests
and rights. What they need is a commitment, not a handout.
A commitment to justice
can come from a religious or a secular candidate. Women need not fear a
president who "uses" religion to please the masses and get their votes
-- nor be disappointed when the veneer of secularism cracks to reveal an
ambivalent chauvinist. Whatever "style" choices these candidates make,
they matter less than their substantive policies and positions.
Women in Egypt should
not hold their breath or wait for a savior but rather continue to
organize and struggle for social, political and economic rights and
freedoms.(Hania Sholkamy per "CNN")
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