FEBRUARY 05 NEWSLETTER
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Women and the Quota System in Egypt

Implementing the political quota system for women in Egypt's largely male-dominated public life would no doubt be an effective means of ensuring women’s effectual participation in the Egyptian political domain, which has so far been impeded by conservative social traditions and a patriarchal culture that tends to relegate women to an inferior status.

Opponents of the quota system believe that it explicitly infringes on the Egyptian constitution by discriminating against men. And indeed in 1987 the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court struck down the quota of 30-seats granted to women in the Egyptian Parliament under Sadat. This led immediately to a steep decline in women representation, down to 2.5% in the 2000 elections.

Average women representation for Arab parliaments is clearly low (6.4 %) in comparison to the rest of the world (15.5), despite the fact that several Arab countries- Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan, and Jordon -have a quota for women in national and local councils.

This type of affirmative action to rectify long-standing cultural discrimination against women needs to be implemented for a limited number of years if women are to break free from the traditional bonds imposed upon by the highly conservative Muslim societies of the Middle East. Only then will women have a reasonable fair measure of participation in the political process. An expansion of the percentage of women in the labor force, particularly within the institutions of government, will also help by developing their interest and feeling of responsibility towards the society and public issues. Thus, enhancing greater awareness and understanding of the concept of equal citizenship for all.