United they stand - if they're allowed

Yomna Kamel Middle East Times staff

When leading Egyptian feminist Doria Shafiq and a thousand Egyptian women occupied the parliament in 1951 and demanded the deputies' support for women's rights, they did not expect that the Egyptian women would have to fight for another 50 years to establish their first union.

Shafiq, who founded the Bint Al Nil (Daughter of the Nile) Union boasting two hundred women trained in the military arts and expert in strikes and demonstrations, would also have found it hard to believe that the female-headed Egyptian Ministry of Social Affairs is still reluctant to approve the establishment of such a union.

Though it has been meeting since September 1999, the new Women's Union, an umbrella organization to bring together the large number of women's NGOs, remains unrecognized and unwanted by the government. Instead, the government has gone ahead and set up its own official umbrella organization for women's groups.

This reaction from the government, however, is not so strange for the new union's head Nawal Saadawi – an active feminist jailed by President Anwar Sadat and released only after his assassination. For her, it is a reflection of a general political atmosphere where only a small amount of room is open for democracy.

"There is fear from any popular initiative to form an umbrella under which a large number of strong NGOs can operate, especially if it has independent leadership that is not obedient to the government," Saadawi says.

It was these fears that motivated former

Minister of Social Affairs Mervat Al Tellawy to change her initially positive attitude to one totally opposing the idea of establishing women's union. The ministry even went on to launch a media campaign against the founders of the union since last year.

The ministry publicly stated in the press after the first meeting that the union was illegal and subsequently there were more articles condemning its formation and members. Saadawi points out, however, that the meeting and the procedures they followed were exactly according to the new law on NGOs, passed in May 1999.

In fact, the idea of establishing women's union has been in Saadawi's mind for years, but it only became public last year when she applied to register the union with the Ministry of Social Affairs after giving up on her earlier organization.

"In early 1990s, the government closed down Egypt's office for the Arab Women's Solidarity Association, which I headed, because of our stance against the Gulf War. We sued the government for this, but the case has been going for years with no verdict given. Lately, I was advised to give it up and forget all about it," she says.

Despite the fact that the government established other women organizations, like the Arab Women Association, Saadawi felt there was still a need for a non-governmental union to gather together all NGOs operating in the field.

"So, we formed a committee to discuss the establishment of the union and we met with Tellawi last year, who expressed her support for the initiative. Twenty one organizations held a meeting in the summer to declare the union. We were then shocked by a media frenzy against us, particularly attacking me," Saadawi says

Although the ministry has not yet decided to register the union or reject it, Saadawi has been taking more serious steps towards its formation.

On January 31, a few days after the People's Assembly passed amendments of the personal status law, Saadawi invited 35 women's organizations from the entire country to attend the union's meeting at the Egyptian Human Rights Organization's headquarters.

"We declared the establishment of the first Egyptian Women's Union since we do not see a reason for the ministry to reject it. The union has three main committees and comprises 90 members, 35 percent of them are men helping and encouraging us," she says.

One of the union's committees is concerned with deepening the understanding of women's issues, especially women's emancipation, and relating them to Egypt's political and economic issues. The second committee works on studying laws and suggesting amendments that serve the interests of women. The third committee organizes women's work inside the participant organizations and communicates with them to form links with each other, Saadawi explains.

Through such committees, the union will act as a legally recognized political umbrella that protects women, she adds.

Saadawi and the 35 organizations comprising the new union seem set on gaining official recognition for their work and not accepting any alternatives offered by the government.

It was in reaction to the union, Saadawi thinks, that the government recently formed the National Council for Women headed by First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. The organizations are made up of female figures who originally worked for the government or are members of the ruling National Party.

"Establishing such bodies should not come through a governmental decision, but by an initiative from the people themselves," Saadawi stresses.