By Randa El Tahawy
| The month of March for Egyptian women has so far not been a happy one. Come to think of it, I don't think there's any month that's been exactly happy for Egyptian women regarding their status and rights in our country. (Check out staff writer’s Hana Zuhair’s article on Samira Ibrahim’s virginity test fight.Unfortunately, the skeptical virus has hit me. I do feel strongly about women’s rights and know we should never give up and should continue raising our issues, but I just don’t feel like fighting anymore. After a year of disappointments, I have reached a state of hopeless resignation.
I realized I had lost my zeal to fight when I ran into journalist Mona El Tahawy, the person I look up to when it comes to women’s rights, last week. She had come to Egypt to attend the International Women’s Day march on March 8.
She was very passionate about her cause that my first response to her invitation to join in was an immediate "yes," and in seconds I became excited about the event; it just didn’t last as long as I hoped it would.
When I gave it some more thought, I realized I didn’t really want to join in; I couldn’t feel the passion anymore.
I also knew I wouldn’t feel comfortable in the masses and couldn’t stop thinking about the women’s march last year.
The Illusion of Freedom
The girls in our newsroom decided to commemorate International Women’s Day in Tahrir Square last year to celebrate women and the new freedom we thought we had acquired after the revolution. We were happy and excited and, like all Egyptians, we had the illusion of freedom. We also thought that January 25 meant progress for women and we could finally become empowered in our country.
Little did we know, not much had changed in the patriarchal society we live in. The day went so horribly wrong, and we were literally shoved away from the square. But adding insult to injury, groups of people followed us out of the square calling us “traitors” and “foreign hands.” |
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| I was terrified, I has never felt that threatened before.It was a big slap in the face for women's empowerment in Egypt, but that was only the beginning of it. On March 9, 2011, the scandalous torture and virginity tests performed by military men on female protestors took place. Then no women were part of the panel for the constitutional amendment. After Parliamentary elections, the women elected only represented five percent of parliament.
Then came the tragic ‘blue bra girl’ incident where a girl was dragged, beaten and stripped by soldiers in December of 2011. And I won’t even begin to discuss the rampant sexual harassment that women have faced while in Tahrir Square throughout the past year.
How can the feminist in me not die after all this?
The only positive aspect for women in Egypt lately was Bothaina Kamel's bid in the presidential race; making her the first female presidential candidate in Egypt. And on a similarly positive note; the marches organized this year by women didn't see as much harassment as those last year.
Still, this is nothing compared to all the aspirations we had for women post-January 25. With the acquittal of the military doctor who performed the virginity tests on Samira Ibrahim and 16 other protestors, and how the past year has been shaping up for women, there is, more than ever, sad proof that women's rights violations are never pressing issues in Egypt.
Women's presence in politics is still not being taken seriously as the Parliamentary elections, as well as our female representatives' contribution to the sessions, have proven.
It's frustrating that someone with as much passion for feminist issues as I have despairs because she was subjected to a bad experience fighting for her rights and celebrating her feminism. |
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| A Sad Year for Egyptian Women |
| 8 March 2011:
A march commemorating International Women's day in Tahrir Square was met by tension and violence, as hundreds of women were pushed away from the square and called traitors. Some cases of sexual harassment were also been reported on the day.
9 March 2011:
Authorities violently dispersed a demonstration in Tahrir Square, detaining nearly 174 people, including 17 girls. Detained demonstrators were said to have faced torture, while women were strip-searched and subjected to 'virginity tests.'
16 March 2011:
A panel of legal experts appointed by the interim military council to draft constitutional amendments excluded female members.
1 April 2011:
Veteran television presenter Bothaina Kamel announces her bid for presidency. She is the first woman to enter the presidential race.
31 April 2011 :
A senior Egyptian general admits that 'virginity tests' were performed on women arrested at a demonstration in March 2011.
15 October 2011:
Egyptian women's organizations announced the reestablishment of the Egyptian Feminist Union.
17 December 2011:
Photos and videos of a woman being beaten and stripped by soldiers were widely circulated, outraging women and men alike across the world.
20 December 2011:
Thousands of women rally in Tahrir Square to protest the outrageous and violent treatment women received during the clashes between protesters and police and military forces.
8 March 2012:
A women's march is organized from the Journalists' Syndicate to the People's Assembly for International Women's day. |
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| I know many women feel the same and this is why I am writing this. We need to unite and bring back the faith in women's rights. We need a collective and unified front at this point. Yes, the fight is hard and long, but I still have a tiny piece of me that believes in it and could use a push from a fellow feminist.
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