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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 June 1999 Issue No. 435 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 June 1999 Issue No. 435
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Interview Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Feminists seek unity
By Nadia Abou El-Magd"Participating in the international women's march and the formation of a women's union are dreams we all share: women and men who are humane and who are women's rights activists. Our dream is to work together because this gives us strength and enthusiasm and makes us less vulnerable." These were the words of leading feminist Nawal El-Sa'adawi in her address on 13 June to a 60-strong gathering which she specially convened for this purpose. "What is beautiful is the attendance of men who are very enthusiastic about the idea of the union and the march."
The formation of an Egyptian women's union was El-Sa'adawi's brainchild. Marches in many cities across the world are scheduled to take place on Women's Day on 8 March 2000. They are intended to present women's demands and air their grievances to legislative bodies in many countries.
"The idea of establishing the union has been at the back of my mind for some time, because women's movements cannot be strong as long as they are fragmented," El-Sa'adawi told Al-Ahram Weekly.
El-Sa'adawi returned to Egypt in 1996 after four years of self-exile in the United States, triggered by fears that she might be targeted by Islamist militants.
The idea of a union began to take shape after El-Sa'adawi teamed up with a number of intellectuals and activists in a "weekly creative and intellectual gathering" -- an intellectual salon. The 10-member or so group agreed to start working on the formation of the union and making preparations for a march in Cairo.
The Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies hosted the first meeting of the preparatory committee for both events.
In a memorandum sent to all women's groups and NGOs working with, and for, women, the goals of the union and the march were stated: "To defend women's rights, which have been achieved through years of struggle, which are threatened by certain political and religious reactionary trends. Women's efforts need to be united against those trends, to erase the discrimination between men and women based on sex." The memorandum also stated that one of the group's goals is to underline the relationship between poverty and violence and all related forms of oppression.
However, Youssri Mustafa, from the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), said that the aim of the proposed union "should not be to outline the rights of women's movements because these movements already exist and have their goals. The goal should be to protect and defend those movements."
El-Sa'adawi responded that Sunday's meeting was indeed to discuss these goals and to define them. El-Sa'adawi is the chairwoman of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association, which has a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. She was keen to point out that the goal of the preparatory committee was to coordinate women's efforts and not to lead or control them. "We want the preparatory committee to be independent and to be confined to representatives of women's groups in order to launch a national action that is broader than any ideology," El-Sa'adawi told the audience.
However, some attendees wondered about the legality of the proposed union, especially in light of the new NGO law enacted last month, and considered by many NGO's to be restrictive.
Mohamed Qotb, a physician and an elected village mayor, believed that the participants should not be overly concerned about legal matters.
"We don't need frameworks as much as we need enthusiasm and faith in the women's cause," he said.
El-Sa'adawi responded that democracy "is to change things; not to wait for the law, but to change that law."
However, El-Sa'adawi reassured those who expressed worries: "I'm very optimistic about this beautiful beginning which I didn't expect. There are still nine months before the march of March and the union will not be announced tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. It is still very early."
When the preparatory committee meets again on 27 June, the legal status of both the union and the march will be clarified.
El-Sa'adawi, taking the new NGO law into consideration, said that the financing of the union, march and the preparatory committee will come from local rather than foreign sources. The committee will later meet once every month.
Another controversy erupted during the two-hour meeting about who is better qualified to solve women's problems: the intellectual elite or ordinary people.
"The problems of the nation can be solved by the elite, because they are the ones who can change laws. We are the intellectuals that should change [biased] laws; otherwise, women at the bottom of society won't be able to gain their rights," said Dr Wassim El-Sissi, a physician. Not all attendees agreed, however.
"If the elite are not aware of the people's needs, they won't be able to do anything," said Azza Khamisi, who introduced herself as an Egyptian citizen.
