gisw13_chapters

Online protests over “virginity tests” and gender-basedviolence translated into street protests.The rape incidents in Tahrir Square on 8 June 2012went public through social networks, includingpictures and video clips, resulting in an immediatenational and international outcry. 7 Throughoutthe experience, the internet has allowed Egyptianwomen to transcend the barriers that restrain andimpede their political and social participation.Facebook has been widely used as a communicationtool between groups of Egyptians wherewomen were often leading the conversation, urgingparticipation in the many rallies and protests thatwere organised during the anti-Mubarak uprisingsand later on in the attempt to formulate the newstate.The marginalisation of Egyptian womenprotestorsNevertheless, despite Egyptian women’s activepresence online and in the streets, they were quicklymarginalised after the climax of the Mubarakabdication. The main youth groups that sustainedthe Tahrir rallies asked for the creation of a “groupof ten wise men” to advise them on the next steps.Mona Makram Ebeid was quickly made the tenthmember of this venerable group in an attempt to includea woman. As a Coptic Christian, she added thediversity bonus. The problem was that the youth, includingthe young women, did not have a plan, letalone a vision, for a post-Mubarak Egypt. After havingtheir demands met by Mubarak stepping down,they literally did not know what to do next.This lack of a political strategy highlighted twomajor shortcomings:• Poor education and a lack of in-depth politicalthought and understanding. The naiveté of the“activists” seems hard to fathom: how can onerally politically, risking life, without having aplan for a viable alternative?• The young, supposedly secular activists werethe first to disfranchise and marginalise theirfemale activist colleagues. The youth never sawwomen as a group capable of giving advice, nordid they see women as a cornerstone of therevolution and the new Egypt. This attitude alsosurfaced repeatedly in online networks, especiallyFacebook, where the revolutionary youthspokespersons are mostly males.7 Momtaz, R. (2012) Egypt: Women Sexually Assaulted at MarchAgainst Sexual Harassment, ABC News, 13 June. news.yahoo.com/egypt-women-sexually-assaulted-march-against-sexualharassment-004250792--abc-news-topstories.htmlIn modern history, Egyptian women were politicallyvocal in the 1919 revolution against British occupation.The national movement spearheaded by the WafdParty and Saad Zaghloul had a secular approach thatwas used by educated women to highlight the importanceof women’s participation in building a modernEgypt. In Egypt as a Woman: Nationalism, Gender,and Politics, Beth Baron 8 argues that despite Egyptianwomen’s support of nationalism, they were excludedfrom political participation once the national movementgained power and did not need women’s supportany longer. The author sees this as a contradiction tothe main message sent out by the nationalists whoequated Egypt to a woman.However, as an Egyptian, I do not support Baron’shypothesis that Egypt was depicted “visually andmetaphorically as a woman.” Instead, Egypt was depictedby Saad Zaghlul, the Wafd and by the Egyptianpeople as their “mother”, thereby singling out thecountry’s femaleness only in that specific role. But“Egypt, the mother” only supported women’s participationin nation building in line with their traditionalroles (i.e. within the established patriarchal system).Despite this limitation, women were successful in the1919 revolution in setting aside the face veil and obtainingmore education and public participation forthemselves, claiming that an educated “mother” isthe base to build an educated society. They establishedpublic roles that grew with time and becameingrained in Egyptian society.From a historical perspective, it seems that the1952 army coup and the militarisation of Egypt’sruling elite brought with it a diminishing role forwomen. As an ultra-patriarchal organisation, themilitary supported a secular regime that appearedto create equal gender opportunities, though thesenever materialised into meaningful political participationby women. Women were added as a quota topolitical bodies like the parliament and the cabinetof ministers, but they never played a marked andstrong political role in Egypt.The 2011 revolution followed the 1919 revolutionin its use of women to catalyse the nation, but oncethe goal was achieved, women were quickly removedfrom the power-talk table. A difference with the 25January Revolution was that the Egyptian youth werenot prepared, as their predecessors were, with implementableplans for the transition of power. TheEgyptian youth, female and male, had been disabledby an inefficient educational system and theabsence of venues for political participation. In addition,Egypt has been ridden with a culture of ageism8 Baron, B. (2007) Egypt as a Woman: Nationalism, Gender andPolitics, University of California Press, Berkeley.123 / Global Information Society Watch