After revolution in Egypt, women's taste of equality fades

[maddezmom]

By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times

February 14, 2012, 9:17 p.m.
Reporting from Cairo— Bothaina Kamel is a novelty and a provocation in a single breath. The only woman running for Egypt's presidency, she travels without an entourage, wears a bracelet that says "Make poverty history," can outlast the most exasperating heckler in the crowd, and has no chance of winning.

"I want to create culture shock. Yes, a woman is running for president," says Kamel, a television presenter and ex-wife of a former cultural minister. "Some people have come up to me and asked, 'Is it even legal for a woman to run?' I hope to set a trend, to open a door. A girl sent me a Twitter: 'You have given us a chance to dream.'"

Kamel campaigns often in Tahrir Square. It represents, she says, the spirit of what Egypt could be. But the farther one travels from Tahrir Square, the more the revolutionary fervor that overthrew Hosni Mubarak fades. Much of the country is tired. People want to fold away the epic of last year and get on with the business of life, no matter how imperfect, with soldiers in the streets and women far from the chambers of power.

Once at the vanguard of the protest movement, women have yet to gain any significant influence in the new Egypt, revealing the complexities of defining gender rights in a nation colored by Islam, inundated by Western media permissiveness and ruled by military men operating in a cloistered realm of gold stars and salutes.

more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-egypt-women-20120215,0,284102.story

[redqueen]

1. Excellent article, thanks!

Wanted to share a couple of quotes that struck me, for anyone who doesn't have time to read the article.

"The revolution itself has not come to power," says Ibrahim. "The military is leading a counterrevolution.... It doesn't take much to see the true face of the military after that (blue bra) picture. It makes you know who the enemy is."

"The problem facing women is very grave," (Saadawi) says. "Politics is controlled by male muscles."

The military there is not interested in allowing women there to participate equally. Groups who value 'tradition' over equality also work against women's interests there.

[maddezmom]

2. thanks

[tabatha]

3. Going slighter better in Libya: New Electoral Law Guarantees 40 Libyan Women Legislators

The Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace (LWPP) welcomes the passage of a new electoral law, which guarantees women at least 40 seats on the 200-member Constituent Assembly that will draft the country’s new constitution.

Libya’s National Transitional Council adopted the law at 11PM on Wednesday February 8th after a month-long campaign led by the LWPP and other civil society groups forced the NTC to delay and then scrap an initial, more restrictive draft law put forward by the council.

As soon as the electoral law was announced, the LWPP co-organized protests and commissioned the drafting of an alternative electoral law that contained a range of provisions to ensure women’s representation and other changes. The finalized text relies heavily on language of the LWPP law, which was drafted by a team of leading Libyan legal experts.

http://lwpp.org/from-0-to-40-lwpp-advocacy-effort-secures-major-representation-for-woman-in-new-libyan-assembly/

[Starry Messenger]

4. That's why we still need feminism in class war.

Revolution shouldn't be a boy's club.

[maddezmom]

5. agree and we have quite a few brothers here

that shouldn't be shunned because they might not know all the "acceptable" language, if they are on our side we should embrace them and teachh them.

[Starry Messenger]

6. Absolutely!

In real life and DU I find that male allies are easy to talk to. Even my own partner has oopsed a couple of times on word usage, and when I let him know why something might not be cool, he always listens. I know he's a tireless fighter against bigotry.