Changing profile

Reem Leila reports on the third of the polls conducted by the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre into women's role in society

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The Public Opinion Poll Centre's 2009 poll into the position women occupy in society is the third of its kind, following similar polls in 2006 and 2008. Each involved a sample of adult citizens who were asked how they perceived the role and standing of women and their views on women holding leadership positions.

In all three polls 88 per cent of respondents said it was important that women have input in decisions concerning the education of children, household budgets, and the marriage of offspring. In the 2009 poll 92 per cent of those questioned said it was essential for women to complete their secondary education, though the percentage fell to 85 per cent when it came to university education, a figure consistent with the two earlier surveys.

Hoda Rashad, head of the National Council of Women's (NCW) Education, Training and Scientific Research Committee, argues that women have made enormous gains during recent years. But women, she says, can never be leaders as long as they lack education or awareness of their legal, political and economic rights.

The council, along with other concerned authorities and NGOs, has initiated a pilot project to establish a data base covering more than 350,000 families across Egypt, listing the names of illiterate family members. This data base provides detailed information on gender, age, enrolment and drop out rates in literacy classes at a village level. It also includes details of graduates who do not work in order to recruit or involve them as service providers in literacy classes.

A majority of respondents also thought it important that women exercise their electoral rights, though while 90 per cent said women should vote in elections in 2006, the figure fell to 85 per cent in 2008 and 83 per cent in 2009. The question exposed a gender gap, with 86 per cent of women answering positively, opposed to just 70 per cent of men in the latest poll.

Asked about women holding leadership positions fewer people in 2009 thought that women should become either president, prime minister, governors, judges, mayors or marriage officers than in earlier years.

In response to the results of the poll, NCW Secretary-General Farkhonda Hassan points out that in Egypt women have long struggled to reach leadership positions, not least because the challenges they face are different to their male counterparts. Egypt's future female leaders require knowledge and skill to become active players in the country's development.

"Despite constitutional and legal guarantees empowering Egyptian women, who represent 49 per cent of the country's population, there is still a long way to go."

"NCW data confirms that very few women are empowered in leadership positions. The Egyptian cabinet includes only two women and there has never been a female prime minister, vice-president or president of the republic, though nothing in the constitution or law prevents this."

Though Egypt in the past year has seen the appointment of the first female mayor and maazoun (religious registrar) the NCW, says Hassan, is still working towards the appointment of the first female governor.

A majority of respondents -- 80 per cent in 2006 poll, 84 per cent in 2008 and 2009 -- said that in an ideal world women should stay at home. Again, the 2009 poll exposed a gender gap, with 88 per cent of men extolling the virtues of housewifery, compared to 79 per cent of women.

Despite the figures Hassan believes that women are no longer marginalised players. They must be allowed to make a difference at all levels, from grassroots, family and community initiatives through to regional, national, and international decision-making bodies. Accordingly, "the NCW engages across a broad spectrum of interests... the council does not have any direct interests of its own other than to see women in their right position, enjoying the stability and prosperity males enjoy".