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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Study Special Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Emancipating the mind
By Dahlia HammoudaPresided over by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, a conference on the women's liberation movement commemorated the passing of 100 years since the celebrated book Tahrir Al-Mar'a (The Emancipation of Women) by Qasim Amin was published in 1899.
The conference, "The 100th Anniversary of Arab Women's Emancipation", was held at the Cairo Opera House from 23 to 28 October. Organised by the Higher Council for Culture, it was the first of its kind in the Arab world in terms of scope and participation and was well attended by a distinguished gathering that included ministers, activists, scholars and officials from Egypt and abroad.
In her opening address to the conference, Mrs Mubarak said that Egypt was at the vanguard of the promotion of women's rights.
"It is not coincidental that, during the past century, the pursuit of women's liberation was closely linked to the pursuit of national liberation and that women's liberation blended in with the liberation of society as a whole," Mrs Mubarak said. "Women's participation in the 1919 and 1952 revolutions is clear proof of this synchronisation."
The issue of women's status in the Arab world has, for the last century, oscillated between two extremes of opinion: the conservative, which sees that women's only function is to bear and rear children and care for the home and husband; and the progressive, which sees them as equal to men, with the same rights and duties. This progressive view gained an overwhelming victory through the 1952 Revolution, when women won many of their rights. They not only gained equal opportunities in education, employment, promotion, training and scholarships abroad, but pioneered areas previously restricted to men, such as the foreign service and the police. They also gained the right to vote and to representation in parliament.
But it was Amin's revolutionary ideas at the turn of the century that first gave birth to the women's movement in Egypt. A year after The Emancipation of Women was published, Amin published another work on the same topic. Both Al-Mar'a Al-Jadida (The New Woman), published in 1900, and its forerunner provoked heated debate among his contemporaries.
"Women's advancement went hand in hand with society's renaissance and its reformist movements and, from this platform, came Qasim Amin's book, which we are celebrating today," Mrs Mubarak said. "It is the work of a thinker whose mind and thoughts had been freed, who realised, through his exceptional vision, that society moves ahead with both its men and its women alike."
Indeed, Amin advocated freedom of the intellect, freedom of conscience and freedom of feelings. His status as a respected supreme court judge rendered his ideas all the more influential. The rare depth of knowledge, insight and comprehensiveness of his books had an immense impact on the public.
Amin did not only demand the protection of women's rights on such issues as veiling, polygamy and men's absolute power in divorce, but went a step further, formulating a radical and comprehensive programme for women's liberation.
"Amin introduced a new approach for comprehensive social analysis based on liberating the potentials of all factions of society, including women," Mrs Mubarak said. "Above all else, Amin wanted to free women's minds and thoughts of the chains and barriers that hinder them... There is no arguing that education is the first step to breaking those chains."
Amin called for equality in education for boys and girls and for all jobs in the civil service to be open to women. In his words: "...since women constitute half of the population of any country, keeping them shackled by ignorance can only deprive the nation of half its potential."
"Looking at the most recent international reports on human development, which evaluate the level of advancement of societies through the improvement of women's status, we can only salute our great thinker and his counterparts in the Arab world who have made women's empowerment the focus of their work," Mrs Mubarak said.
Mrs Mubarak pointed out that Egypt's focus during recent years has been to lay down the institutional and legal framework to give women their rights. She said that a national philosophy governed all that is connected to future action on women's issues in Egypt. The fourth five-year plan for economic and social development (1997-2001) includes policies to develop women's capacities and improve educational, health and social services provided to women, Mrs Mubarak said.
The recommendations of the three national conferences on women, in 1994, 1996 and 1998, where Egyptian women from all fields were brought together to subjectively discuss problems they face, are work plans for the responsible authorities to follow, according to Mrs Mubarak. Among these recommendations are the amendment of laws to eliminate, in accordance with regulations, all that debases women, the simplification of legal procedures in matters of divorce, custody, etc., the offering of judicial assistance to women and raising their awareness of their rights and duties.
"Throughout her long history, the Arab woman has never been in greater need of affirming her role and establishing her status as she is today," Mrs Mubarak said.
The issue of women's liberation has proved to be very high on Mrs Mubarak's and civil society's agendas. Indeed, in their comments before the conference, both Culture Minister Farouk Hosni and Secretary-General of the Higher Council for Culture Gaber Asfour hailed Mrs Mubarak's tireless efforts to educate, empower and liberate the women of Egypt.
