Thus, the Shoura Council has seized the seats that allocated to women according to the amendment of the Law No 38/1972 of the Peoples’ Assembly Council. This amendment known as “Women’s Quota” and allocated 64 seats for women and according to that the seats of Peoples’ Assembly Council have increased from 444 to 508 seats.

The Military Council had canceled these seats before and provided an alternative seat claiming that it will contribute in making women’s participation reach to 20% which was rejected by all the feminist powers and concerned personals. The results of the 2011 parliament proofed it full mistake whereas the results was a parliament include 9 women who won form the party lists and no women won from the independent candidates as well as two women were appointed. The total number of female parliamentarians was 11 female members out of 508 members with a percentage that did not exceed 2% and this is the parliament that came after a revolution which women participated strongly in for a better life and fair representation.

In Egypt, Women demanded to apply the equality and justice, which was one of the most important demands of the revolution which is including women in the lists of 50% and in sequence or with a minimum of 35% at the electoral lists with making sure of its representation at the forefront of the lists. However, the Shoura Council insisted not to respond to the demands of women in Egypt. As per the claim that this is discrimination, it is untrue claim to justify seizing women’s seats and kick them out of the parliament although they didn’t go back to the original number of the seats which is 444 seats. It is a continuation to approach of the ruling regime to exclude women and targeting to not participate. It is also an abuse of the concept of equality and use it in its misplaced, because the state is responsible for achieving the equality at a level of results confirm women’s participation in decision making and not just coming up with slogans to shirk responsibility.

It is also contrary to the Egyptian Constitution which emphasized on the need for doing a balance in the population representation. If women represent around 50% of population, it is important to be represented in the lists with a percentage 50% in order to achieve a balance of population and the principle of equality. It is also contrary to all international conventions which were signed by Egypt especially the Convention of Eleminaion All Forms of Discrimination Against Women that sates in the Article 4 that: 1. Adoption by States Parties of temporary special measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality between men and women shall not be considered discrimination as defined in the present Convention, but shall in no way entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate standards; these measures shall be discontinued when the objectives of equality of opportunity and treatment have been achieved.

It is also raises serious doubts about the future of women in Egypt in the light of tailoring laws in the Shoura Council where its legitimacy is doubtful and it is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and in a light of targeting all laws related to women to be discussed in a parliament is being tailored to fit the ruling regime and kick women out of it.

Therefore, ECWR demands all the civil powers that believe in democracy to reject this law that is being endorsed by the Shoura Council and reject this law that is contradicting all the principles of the revolution and the most important principle is Justice and equality

ECWR condemns these unprecedented violations, which we consider a continuation of the systematic crimes supported or tolerated by the current regime. Therefore, ECWR demands an immediate investigation and calls for accountability from the officials responsible.

ECWR condemns this brutal attack and considers it as continuation of the systematic violence against women in general and the male and female activists and media professionals in particular. These practices reached to targeting women’s bodies in the revolutions’ squares in a systematic way and that considers as “Crimes against Humanity”

That is a completion of the anti attitude to women from the Muslim Brotherhood and the regime of the President Mohamed Morsi, which was expressed through a statement was issued by Muslim Brotherhood that condemns and gives the lie to the efforts of the 57 session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) that discussed stopping the Violence against Women and incites against its work. This statement also contrasted with all the statements which were declared by Dr. Bakinam El- Sharkawy, Assistant to the President for Political Affairs, in the CSW on its 57th session regarding to the efforts of Egypt to enact a law to criminalize violence against women and develop a strategic action to reduce violence against women. Also, That gives the lie to the statements of Dr. Essam el-Haddad, the President’s Assistant for Foreign Relations and International Cooperation, in front of the European Union on respect for women and estimate their position.
Therefore, ECWR demands:

• Forming an impartiality and integrity judicial committee in order to investigate these systematic crimes against women and activists in Egypt.
• Arresting quickly of those who involved in the attack on women and female activists where these crimes are documented by photos and audio recordings.
• Confronting by the Ministry of Interior to the Muslim Brotherhood militia or other groups are trying to impose its criminal influence in organized groups.

While the center provides this year’s status report of Egyptian women, it faced a number of challenges the most important of it is the scarcity of information and statistics about the situation of women; Most writings expressed admiration to the Egyptian women presence or the astonishment of the size of their participation in public work, from which she was far for decades.

As for the approved research institutions, it seem that they are, similar to Egypt, facing many problems that made the intellectual production and monitoring so modest compared with the previous years, so there is not available statistics or sufficient analytical writings to help us. The center, like many human rights and women organizations in Egypt, was also under intense pressure from the Ministry of Social Affairs such as the disagreement on many of the center’s programs or delays in the issuance of approvals for more than a year to limit the NGOs activities or paralyze them. This situation made the report depend on a limited number of researchers who exerted tremendous efforts in research and document, hoping that the center can introduce a useful report on Egyptian Women in 2012, so would you please excuse us for any disadvantages.
To download this Report click here

The year 2012 witnessed many forms of women’s marginalization and weak representation of women in any of the elected councils after the 25 January revolution along with the continuous attacks on her rights as a citizen and a human being. The diverse political actors did not deal with women in different ways; women were handled through a mindset that believes in calling women if needed and excluding them during negotiations or decision making.
Therefore, the Egyptian woman decided to continue her struggle during 2012, so that she can keep the gains that were attained before the 25 January revolution along with presenting herself and participating in shaping the coming period while rejecting everyone who speaks on her behalf. The Egyptian women decided to express themselves while warning all the political and societal powers/actors, in order to prove that Egypt’s future is in women’s hands. So the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights is glad to invite you to attend the press conference where the report of Women’s status 2012 will be presented.
Entitled:
2012, the Massive “Going Out” for the Egyptian Women

The report includes a reading of women’s status throughout 2012 via several indicators:

• Women and the political life
• Women and the Parliament
• Women and the Performance of the Parliament
• Women and the Shoura Council elections
• Women and the Presidential candidates’ platforms
• Women and the Founding committee of writing the Constitution
• Women and the constitution’s draft
• Women and the Presidential elections
• Targeting female activists
• Women and laws
• Women and the economic status
• Violence against women
• Women and protests & Sit-ins

The Press conference will take place on Tuesday 8th January 2013, 11 AM at ECWR’s office, 135 Misr Helwaan El Ziraa’y St. (second floor) behind the Constitutional Court
We are sure that your attendance will enrich the discussion.
Mrs. Nehad Abolkomsan
ECWR’s Chairwoman
A Lawyer

This paper examines the ECWR’s multi-faceted campaign to combat sexual harassment from 2005 to 2008. A timeline of the organization’s major events during this period is presented in Table 1. In examining the campaign mobilization, its framing of the issue, and its tactical repertoire, theoretical insight comes primarily from the literature on high-risk social movements (specifically those in authoritarian environments) and movements with cultural targets. We also draw from research on women’s organization in non-Western contexts and the role of globalization in creating awareness of women’s status in different societies.