Women Are Also Part of This Revolution

Women Are Also Part of This Revolution

Department

Social Research Center (SRC)

Abstract

This chapter provides a critical review of the roles of women in the Egyptian revolution and of the place of feminism in Egyptian politics. On the one hand the imagery of the revolutionary moment is replete with scenes and signs of gender justice, camaraderie, equality, mutual respect and liberation. The transformative event that we call Tahrir Square did change the gender imbalance! But on the other hand the post revolutionary space is disturbingly similar to the way we women used to be. The chapter reviews the recent history of gender justice gains, state sponsored feminism and attempts to challenge formal politics and formal feminism and presents an interpretation of what happened in Egypt, why the roar of revolution only yielded an ripple of modest gains for women and what is needed for a way forward for women as social and political partners in the future. Key to this argument is a distinction between personal and formal freedom and rights. The case of Egypt shows a dis-juncture between the rights and equality enjoyed by powerful women in the public domain and their own inability to realise equality for themselves and for other women in the realm of the personal and the private.

Publication Date

Fall 9-30-2012

Document Type

Book Chapter

Book Title

Arab Spring in Egypt: Revolution and Beyond (A Tahrir Studies Edition)

Editors

Bahgat Korany, Rabab El-Mahdi

ISBN

9781617971365.00

Publisher

American University in Cairo Press

City

Cairo, Egypt

First Page

153

Last Page

174

Keywords

women, revolution, Egypt, arab spring, Women's empowerment, gender, voice, political participation

Women Are Also Part of This Revolution

Share

COinS