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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Ladies of the house
By Amina ElbendaryAll the hype surrounding the establishment of the National Council for Women (NCW) last February was sharply countered by the announcement of party lists of candidates for parliamentary elections, which began yesterday. The lists included disappointingly few women.
"It's unfortunate that the National Council for Women was established only six months before the elections," argued its secretary-general, Mervat Tellawi. "We've had very little time to prepare for the upcoming ballot."
"Even the National Democratic Party didn't nominate as many women as we hoped it would," lamented Tellawi. She argues that, despite the directives of President Hosni Mubarak that women be better represented in parliament this time around, not all party officials and executives share his perspective and vision.
"Contrary to popular perceptions, common Egyptian men are not against women's representation; they will vote for whoever serves them best, man or woman," said Tellawi. "They don't discriminate like the educated middle classes. It is the leaders of the various political parties who are the obstacle. They do not comprehend the importance of women's political participation, they are not convinced of the need to promote it and, therefore, do not obey all the instructions and do not always follow the guidance and policy of the president."
And it is not just the NDP that lags behind. "None of the existing political parties have strong programmes for promoting women's rights and development," said Tellawi. In fact, "they were rather taken by surprise this season with all the stress on women's political participation. They do not have strong scientific bases to promote such participation. ...We are planning to study political programmes of parties from different parts of the world that promote the causes of women to use them as models for future programmes," she added.
Mervat Tellawi
The NCW has been providing many women candidates -- party members as well as independents -- with campaign assistance. "We meet with the candidates often and try to listen to their complaints and requests. We have helped many of them in organising their campaign publicity and acted as mediators between them and different institutions, authorities and businesses that could subsidise them," explains Tellawi. "We have also started programmes recruiting young college students to work on the campaigns. This is helping us in raising and training a new generation of women activists."
"We encourage and assist all women candidates regardless of their party affiliations," asserted Tellawi. This might seem like a contradiction, for how would a governmental institution, one that is financed by the state and one whose offices are located on the same premises as those of the ruling NDP, possibly support opposition candidates? Tellawi explains, "The NCW is not a political party. It includes members from all the political parties. We do not discriminate between NDP and opposition candidates. In addition, our budget is very limited; therefore, we cannot afford to give financial aid or donations to candidates. We simply give them logistical support and guidance." Would the council support an Islamist candidate, for example? The criterion, according to Tellawi, is a candidate's belief in the cause of women. "If a candidate does not believe in women's causes -- even if she were an NDP candidate -- the NCW will not support her. If an Islamist candidate starts discriminating against women and calling for intolerant policies, she will be rejected by the council," warned Tellawi. Does the council support the candidate of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Jihan El-Halafawi, who is running in Alexandria? "She has not contacted the council nor asked for its support. We do not seek out the candidates, they are the ones who seek our support," said Tellawi.
Related stories:
New support for women 7 - 13 September 2000
Parliament with a difference? 31 August - 6 September 2000
See Elections 2000
