ASMAA FATHÎ

Cairo - Women face obstacles in obtaining decision-making positions worldwide. Women facing barriers to due to the patriarchal mentality keep struggling to participate in the decision-making positions. We spoke to Egyptian women about what kind of obstacles faced by them and how they struggle against them.

“There is no fair participation”

Feminist researcher Yasmine Alaa El-Din, a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, told us that the patriarchal system works with all its might to root gender stereotypes against women in the public sphere. Stating that women have been denied their fair share of representation in politics, Yasmine Alaa El-Din said that there is formal empowerment, not a feminist expressive of women in the public sphere.

“Women cannot obtain decision-making positions”

Expressing that despite the gender quota and positive discrimination against women, women need time, effort, and work to strengthen them, Yasmine Alaa El-Din said, “After the expiration of the quota period, women will not be able to run for elections and will not be able to fulfill their expectations regarding their political participation. There are already many obstacles to women’s political participation and women also face obstacles in obtaining decision-making positions. Some of these obstacles are gender stereotypes in political and social areas and the lack of gender-responsiveness in the elections.”

“Women keep struggling”

Emphasizing that women's participation in politics and decision-making positions is still a controversial issue in the country, journalist Heba Anis told us that women keep struggling to increase their participation in politics and decision-making positions. “Although some women have obtained some decision-making positions, they are prevented to reach the level they want due to the patriarchal mentality and system that controls everything about women. Most women are prevented by their families from reaching decision-making positions in the name of the honor of the family,” she told us.

“Women are prevented”

The researcher and feminist activist Jihad Ashraf also thinks that there are many obstacles, such as laws, values, and ideas, preventing women’s participation in politics and decision-making positions. Pointing out that the number of women parliamentarians in the parliament is currently only 165; she said that women increased their number in the Egyptian Senate from 10 to 20.