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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 March 2000 Issue No. 473 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 March 2000 Issue No. 473
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Celebrating in diversity, seeking unity
By Mariz Tadros
Officials, NGO activists and even actors and actresses participated in celebrations commencing on 8 March -- International Women's Day -- and continuing up to 16 March, Egyptian Woman's Day. But there was little sign of a common agenda or of a dialogue between NGOs and the government.
In the first of these celebrations, organised by the donor sub-group for Gender and Development (GAD) at the American University in Cairo (AUC), Mervat Tallawi, secretary-general of the National Council for Women, and Moushira Khattab, secretary-general of the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood, left after giving their presentations -- before the NGO paper was delivered.
NGO activists complained from the floor that their abrupt departure had made it difficult to engage in a dialogue on the challenges facing Egyptian women.
In her speech, Tallawi said there were several achievements that could benefit women such as a new law facilitating personal status litigation, the establishment of the National Women's Council and a new NGO law enacted last year.
She called press reports on the two laws misleading. She said that while the NGO law had many positive aspects and supported NGO activities on women's issues, the press distorted its interpretation and had misrepresented certain issues that concern only a few NGOs as concerning all NGOs. She also declared that the National Women's Council will act as a watchdog for the women's movement and as an early warning system on women's social problems.
Alaa Shukrallah, director of the Association for Health and Environmental Development (AHED), suggested that the Beijing and International Population Conferences represented important mile-stones and turning points in the development of NGO activity related to women's issues. These events, Shukrallah said, not only resulted in an upsurge of activities but also marked an important change for many organisations which shifted their roles from charity to advocacy. They are now, he added, lobbying for changes in conditions which discriminate against women, be they legal, economic or structural. However, Shukrallah suggested that while partnership between NGOs working on women's issues and rights and the government had seen important positive developments, NGOs feel, in many cases, that they are "mere props," joining the process of planning and decision-making at a late stage.
"It is hoped that within the next few years this partnership will be consolidated and strengthened," Shukrallah said. "Both the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood and the National Women's Council are important bodies which can play a role in achieving a true partnership between the government and NGOs," he said.
No officials were present at the NGO celebration of Women's Day held last Friday at the Cairo Library, which focused on women and poverty. Iman Bibers, of the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women, suggested that official statistics on female- headed households, ranging between 15 and 25 per cent, could, in fact, be lower. In Mansheyet Nasser, Bibers cited, female-headed households were estimated to be between 30 and 35 per cent. It is not just widows, divorcees and women abandoned by their husbands that support households. Bibers described several other scenarios in which women are left to fend for themselves and their families, such as women rejected by their husbands after remarrying and women whose husbands have unsteady jobs.
Despite extensive research on female-headed households, Bibers insisted the government's welfare policy continues to be based on the assumption that men are the household supporters. Female-headed homes can be assisted through social security and welfare provisions but Bibers complained that the system was slow and ridden with bureaucratic obstacles. For example, she said, women are supposed to receive their pensions within 15 days of applying, but often have to wait for months, sometimes for more than a year, before the money comes in.
At the Progressive Women's Union celebrations of Women's Day, at the leftist Tagammu Party, Farida El-Naqqash urged participants to take part in the "bread and flowers" campaign launched in 1995 in Canada when thousands of women and men descended onto the streets to demand an end to poverty and violence. One hundred and thirty-nine countries, including Egypt, are participating in this campaign which will end on 17 October when thousands of signatures and letters will be delivered to the secretary-general of the United Nations. Demands in the campaign include an elimination of Third World debt, an end to the imposition of sanctions, more welfare and action to be taken against violence as well as a better distribution of wealth. El-Naqqash suggested that the demands be localised, discussed and presented to officials. She said a march to the People's Assembly will be staged next October to call for a re-distribution of wealth and an end to violence against women in Egypt.
Perhaps the one common feature found in all of this year's celebrations was the usual low turnout of men. The celebrations were far from being a series of lectures delivered by raving and ranting feminists (as many men and women have long believed) and many featured documentary films, music, dance and fairs. Male members of society did not figure prominently in any of these events.
