Backlash for women's rights in Egypt?

Last week’s dramatic development in Egypt makes it very clear that the fight for freedom is far from over. The violence against demonstrators leading up to the election for the Egyptian People's Assembly 28 November, shows how fragile the situation is. It is unclear what will fill the void after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. But it is certain that the election and the following evolvement will have an impact on the whole region.

We have all seen the images of women and men who after years of repression have stood up and demanded change, justice and dignity. But revolutions don’t necessarily lead to freer societies, as both history and the development in the Middle East and North African region shows. Conservative patriarchal forces easily exploit the vacuum that occurs when regimes fall. We've seen it before in the Balkans, Caucasus, Iraq and Afghanistan and it primarily affects women's rights.

Women’s rights activists, who yet again demonstrate against the military governing and for democracy, witness how women’s rights are made invisible by almost all actors. After playing an active role in the struggle for freedom and justice, women realize that freedom doesn’t seem to be meant for them.

The demonstrations in conjunction with International Women's Day March 8 made that very clear. When women once again entered the Tahrir square in Egypt to demand equal rights, they were attacked by the same men that they had marched side by side with just a few weeks earlier. Several of the women were arrested by the military forces and subjected to abuse, including so-called virginity tests. A clear and very daunting sign of where the line for women is being drawn. This can also be seen in the fact that the military's transitional council consists only of men and that female experts were excluded from the group producing the interim constitution - which consequently lead to the proposition of a gender quota for the Parliament being deleted.

There are several more reasons for being concerned about the development in Egypt. The military leaders who took over after Mubarak keep a hard regime. The number of civilians charged in military courts is increasing and freedom fighters are being imprisoned without any ways to appeal. Emergency laws have tightened the governments’ control over human rights organizations. The massive violence now used by the police against demonstrators at the Tahrir square, shows that the brutal methods used by Mubarak are still at work.

In the light of the upcoming elections we see religious groups gaining influence, while the old rulers are campaigning in new political constellations. Other political fractions are weak and unorganized and for new parties it has been too short a time to mobilize and getting known outside of Cairo – a fact that also will benefit those already established. In all likelihood, this will lead to the Muslim Brotherhood coming into power. But instead of doing like Ennadah, the islamic party that won the elections in Tunisia, and reassure secular groups by talking about women's rights, the Brotherhood talk of morals and renounce all laws they deem contradictory to the laws of God.

Women who were in the forefront during the revolution are working hard not to lose this historic opportunity. They stress the importance of the election, but not as an endpoint. Women activists all over the region highlight the formings of new constitutions as essential. The constitutions will set the framework for the future lives of women and girls.

So far women in the region have endured double oppression - from undemocratic regimes and from the patriarchal structures reinforced by family laws based on religion and tradition. In the long run, women's rights, are crucial for everyone living in these societies. Already in its first report, in 2002, the Arab Human Development Report listed discrimination against women as one of the region’s biggest obstacles for development. And discrimination and violence against women has been a recurring theme in their reports since then.

Forming a new constitution will be the first and biggest task for the soon elected Egyptian People's Assembly. In this, Sweden and the EU can play an important role. A review of the EU's neighbourhood policy towards the countries in the Middle East and North Africa was published in May. It highlighted five issues as critical for democratic development, including free and fair elections and freedom of speech and the right to assembly.

The EU, however, omits one of the most important criterion for a sustainable democracy, namely equality between men and women. In this area important lessons can be learned from Iraq. The new constitution adopted after the fall of Saddam Hussein contains a paragraph that allows religious courts to rule in cases concerning family law. This paragraph characterizes women's lives today - the number of child marriages is increasing and creeping down in ages, women are having a harder time getting a divorce and their right to inheritance is limited. Women can become MPs, but still have to ask their husbands for permission to get a passport. This paragraph effectively divides the society, as the decreasing number of mixed marriages clearly shows.

It goes without saying that Sweden and the EU should not support dictatorships, but in the same way they should not support processes that leads to half a country’s population having their human rights diminished. In the process of transforming the neighborhood policy into action, Sweden must actively pursue:

• That all constitutions should be based on secular grounds. This is to ensure that women and men are being treated equally in the eyes of the law, also when it comes to matters of family law. Women's rights must be entered explicitly.
• That women are allowed into the decision-making forums. There will be no real democracy without women having equal rights and opportunities as men. Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and other Swedish politicians should, during their travels to Egypt, meet with politically active women to highlight and legitimize women as political actors and to learn their perspective.
• That civil society must be actively supported. Civil society plays a crucial role for women gaining influence and making their voices heard, holding people in power accountable and in fighting corruption; to consolidate the democracy.

Sweden has a good reputation among many Egyptians and a high level of trustworthyness when it comes to working for democracy and gender equality. At this crucial moment, the government must not betray that trust.

The acts of the Egyptian Military Council and the force used by the police may slow down the development towards democracy for a short while. But as Azza Kamel, a prominent Egyptian human rights activist says: You must be patient with us, revolution takes time. But in the end we will win.

Lena Ag, Secretary General The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation

Azza Kamel, leader of Egyptian Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development

This opinion piece was also published in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.