Today is International Women's Day. To celebrate it, here is a piece I wrote for The Scotsman last month on the role of women in Egypt's democratic revolution.
_________________________________________________________________________
She is the girl in a grey patterned headscarf who sparked a revolution through Youtube.
Asmaa Mahfouz appears small, vulnerable, almost mousey. But when she speaks, the mouse becomes a lion. Mahfouz used her vlog - a video blog uploaded on Youtube - to urge her fellow Egyptians to demonstrate on January 25. Then began the uprising that culminated in the unthinkable - toppling Hosni Mubarak after 30 autocratic years.
The little woman, who is 26 but looks 16, is one of the main technivists (tech-savvy political activists) who initiated the protests. She speaks to her webcam in a strong voice with no pauses. She talks of defeating the government as a matter of honour. Tell ten people you know, she says, text them on your phone, find them in the building or street where you live. Use your network on facebook. She even appeals to the gallantry of her Egyptian brothers. If she, a woman, can protest, why can't they? Come and protect me and the other women, she urges. The vlog post was viewed 137,000 times. Many young people in Cairo heeded her call. The rest, without a trace of hyperbole, is history.
There were protagonists of both sexes in Egypt's liberation. But Mahfouz's leadership role is significant. She now sits on the committee representing protesters in negotiations with the army. Many in the square were women, as fearless as the girl in the grey headscarf.. They stood in solidarity with male strangers. Most were young, often well educated, but with no opportunity to use their skills due to mass unemployment.
It is not unusual to see muslim women agitate against injustice in the Middle East. But the Cairo uprising is different in that it was secular. This was about material aspiration and human rights - the desire for a job, a fair wage, security and freedom of expression. Asmaa Mahfouz briefly quotes the Koran in her vlog, but the passage is along the lines of: God helps people who help themselves.
Since the 9/11 attacks of 2001, we in the west have viewed the Middle East through a filter of religious extremism, ignoring its myriad cultural, national and political identities. Cairo is not Kabul, Egypt is not Iran. Once, before oil elevated the Gulf states, Egypt lead the Arab world. It has a distinguished woman's movement whose founders were contemporaries of our own suffragettes.The feminism in the last century was closely bound to the anti-colonialist struggle and Arab nationalism. That continues to this day - Tahrir crowds carried their country's flag - not out of jingoism but collectivism. We are all citizens under the flag, they said, regardless of class, income or gender.
The mother of Egyptian feminism, Huda Sha'rawi, was part of the Arab nationalist movement that lead the uprising against the British in 1919. It is often said that Sha'rawi, who was raised in a harem in Alexandria, began the feminist movement by symbolically removing her veil in a Cairo railway station in 1923. While this remarkable woman did believe traditional clothing was oppressive, the real focus of the movement was on educating girls and demanding fair treatment in law. The women simultaneously took to the streets against the colonial rulers, just as they did against Mubarak this month.
The Daughters of the Nile Union in the 1940s set up literacy and hygiene programmes in the provinces. In the Suez crisis of 1952, a group called the Women's Committee for Popular Resistance vowed to force British troops out of the country. The Arab Nationalist who humiliated Britain, Gamal Nasser, tried to modernise the country through central planning and social engineering. The mighty Aswan Dam was part of the same socialist programme that gave women the vote in 1956. Nasser's own dictatorial tendencies lead to the banning of all independent groups, including feminist ones. But he was determined both sexes would be educated and women were encouraged - sometimes forced - to enter the workplace. These policies, emancipated subsequent generations and shaped the country we know today.
Women's activity in recent years has been more pragmatic than political, which is understandable given the regime. They have led successful campaigns against female circumcision. A proliferation of female lawyers, government officials, NGO leaders, journalists and scientists campaign for the rights of less fortunate women.
The latest uprising, with its promise of democracy, clean government and opportunity ought to give Egyptian women another push forward. But in the moment of victory there is a shadow cast on the future. The Muslim Brotherhood, though absent at the start, played a key part in the denouement that toppled Mubarak. Will it seek political advantage from the wreckage of the old regime? And what does that mean for women?
In 2007 The Brotherhood released a policy platform that required the President of the Republic to be male, with a Council of Islamic Scholars vetting legislation for its compatibility with Islam - similar to Iran. But not everyone in The Brotherhood agreed and there was a heated debate. The organisation's leadership conducted itself well in recent days - even intervening to deny Iran's assertion that Cairo had experienced its own Islamic revolution.
The Brotherhood is said to have the support of between 20 - 35% of the population, though after three decades of rigged elections this is a guesstimate. Who knows how it might fare against a new batch of secular parties banned under the previous regime. It might soon lose appeal when faced with the daily demands of governance. Having said that, The Brotherhood could eschew the new parliament and stick to the social and spiritual realm.
Human rights groups say the future requires a strong constitution, protected by an independent judiciary and a free press. Basic stuff but so hard to pull off in practice. Yet Egypt, despite the years of dictatorship, has healthy civic organisations to help anchor a stable democracy. Many are lead by women. The country also has a history of social progress and grassroots activism. It is this tradition that links early Arab suffragettes with 21st century female vloggers. With luck, encouragement and women such as Asmaa Mahfouz at the keyboard, Egypt's young will not see their dreams run into the sand.
Great article joan, its good to see women stand up against tyrannical regimes like this and when you read how they are treated by men in some of these parts of the world as second class citizens in the name of religion or just out and out prejudice, you know it takes a special kind of courage, I know girls who wont even bother to vote! I'm going to send them this article. I really hope all the people in that part of the world can take control of their countrys and set up a peaceful future for themselves. I saw a small snippet on the news tonight though that said saudi Arabian police opened fire on people in the street and said it will not tolerate any kind of protest, I wonder if our western governments will condemn this in the same way it has condemned Gadaffi, or do only certain countrys deserve democracy? does anyone know who won the last election in saudi Arabia???
Posted by: Andrew simpson | March 10, 2011 at 09:01 PM