Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T15:14:54.061Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Negotiating Women in Egypt's Post-Mubarak Constitutions (2012–2014)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2019

Mariz Tadros
Mariz Tadros*
Affiliation:
Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative “gender audit” of Egypt's two constitutions (2012, 2014) developed after a people's uprising in 2011 and 2013 led to the ousting of two presidents (Mubarak and Morsi respectively). Egypt's two constitutions are particularly compelling for the study of gender politics in transitional constitutionalism because while the number of women participating in the constitution writing process was very similar, the gendered outcomes were starkly different. While the political opportunity for mobilizing around women's rights was enhanced in the aftermath of Mubarak's demise, the capitalization of these opportunities by organized political forces with an anti-feminist agenda undermined the prospects of en-gendering the first post-Mubarak constitution. In contrast, the constitution of 2014, developed under severely circumscribed political space inhibiting women's mobilization, witnessed the exercise of women's constitutional agency to redress the containment of women's rights under the previous constitution and en-gender many elements of it, though the extent of its enforceability remains obscure. This paper draws on primary and secondary data to analyse, through a gender lens, the processes and outcomes involved in constitution drafting along three axes:context and political opportunity structures; coalitional politics, and political and ideological struggles.

Keywords

ConstitutionsWomenEgyptRevolutionIslamismRegime change
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 16 , Special Issue 1: Special Symposium on Women's Parties , March 2020 , pp. 145 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I am extremely grateful to the assistance provided by Egyptian journalist and author Robeir el Fares and human rights research and programme manager Mohamed Hussein for their excellent interviews.

References

REFERENCES

Abou Bakr, Hoda. 2015. “Le'awel qadeyah mousa`ed raees mahkamet al naqd,” Tahrir newspaper, July 4. http://www.tahrirnews.com/posts/249002/%D8%A7 (in Arabic).Google Scholar
Abou El Fadl, Amany. 2013. Min kawaleis al distour ser`al siyada al wataniyya wal irada al dawliyya dakhel distour misr. Cairo: Nahdet Misr (in Arabic).Google Scholar
Abouelnaga, Sherine. 2015. “Reconstructing Gender in Post-Revolution Egypt In Rethinking gender.” In Revolutions and Resistance, ed. Said, Maha el, Meari, Lena, and Pratt, Nicola, 35–58. London: Zed Publishers.Google Scholar
Abu-Lughod, Lila, and Mahdi, Rabab El. 2011. “Beyond the Woman Question in the Egyptian Revolution.” Feminist Studies 37 (3): 683–91.Google Scholar
Al-Ali, Nadje. 2014. “Reflections on (Counter) Revolutionary Processes in Egypt.” Feminist Review 106:122–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Al-Ali, Nadje, and Pratt, Nicola. 2009. What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq. Oakland: California University Press.Google Scholar
Al-Ali, Ziad. 2015. “Egypt's Third Constitution.” In Egypt's Revolutions Politics, Religion and Social Movements, ed. Bernard, and Lacroix, Stephane, 123–38. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Amar, Paul. 2013. The Security Archipelago Human-Security States, Sexuality Politics and the End of Neoliberalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amnesty International. 2016. “Press Release: Egypt: Unprecedented Crackdown on NGOs, March 23.” Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2016/03/egypt-unprecedented-crackdown-on-ngos/.Google Scholar
Ashraf, Fady. 2013. “Constituent Assembly Member Names Announced.” Daily News Egypt, September 1. http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/09/01/constituent-assembly-member-names-out/.Google Scholar
Badran, Margot. 1995. Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Baines, Beverley, and Rubio-Marin, Ruth. 2004. “Introduction: Toward a Feminist Constitutional Agenda.” In The Gender of Constitutional Jurisprudence, ed. Baines, Beverley and Rubio-Marin, Ruth, 1–21. New York and London: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Nathan, and Bentivoglio, Katie. 2014. “Egypt's Resurgent Authoritarianism, It's a Way of Life.” Carnegie Endowment, October 9. http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/10/09/egypt-s-resurgent-authoritarianism-it-s-way-of-life-pub-56877.Google Scholar
Cassola, Adele, Raub, Amy, Folley, Danielle, and Heymann, Jody. 2014. “Where Do Women Stand? New Evidence on the Presence and Absence of Gender Equality in the World's Constitutions.” Politics and Gender 10:200–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charrad, Mounira, and Zarrugh, Amina. 2014. “Equal or Complementary? Women in the New Tunisian Constitution after the Arab Spring.” Journal of North African Studies 19 (2): 230–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childs, Sarah. 2006. “The Complicated Relationship between Sex, Gender and the Representation of Women.” European Journal of Women's Studies 13 (1): 7–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childs, Sarah. 2009. “Analysing Women's Substantive Representation: From Critical Mass To Critical Actors.” Government and Opposition 44 (2): 125–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cichowski, Rachel. 2013. “Judicial Politics and the Courts.” In The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, ed. Waylen, G., Celis, J., and Weldon, L., 579–98. New York, London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
El-Behary, Hend. 2014. “Women's Representation in New Parliament Highest in Egypt's History.” Egypt's Independent. http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/women-s-representation-new-parliament-highest-egypt-s-history.Google Scholar
El-Dabh, Basil. 2013. “99.3% of Egyptian Women Experience Sexual Harassment.” Daily News Egypt, April 28. http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/04/28/99-3-of-egyptian-women-experienced-sexual-harassment-report/.Google Scholar
Elsadda, Hoda. 2012. “Women's Rights Activism in Post–Jan 25 Egypt: Combating the Shadow of the First Lady Syndrome in the Arab World.” Middle East Law and Governance 3 (1–2): 84–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 2015. “Social Accountability: What Does the Evidence Really Say?” World Development 72:346–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guenena, Naema, and Wassef, Nadia. 1999. Unfulfilled Promises: Women's Rights. Egypt: Population Counsel, West Asia and North Africa Region.Google Scholar
Goetz, Anne-Marie, and Hassim, Shireen. 2003. edt. : No Shortcuts to Power: African Women in Politics and Policy Making. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Hafez, Sherine. 2012. “No Longer a Bargain: Women, Masculinity, and the Egyptian Uprising.” American Ethnologist 39 (1): 37–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamzawy, Amr. 2014. “On Religion, Politics and Democratic Legitimacy in Egypt, January 2011–2013.” Philosophy and Social Criticism 40 (4–5): 401–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harassmap. 2014. “Laws Against Sexual Harassment in Egypt.” https://harassmap.org/laws/law-text.Google Scholar
Hassan, Khaled. 2015. “Egypt Electoral Law: A Step Toward Justice for Women.” Al-Monitor. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/11/egypt-elections-women-leadership-positions.html#ixzz4EdGfFhkY.Google Scholar
Hassim, Shireen. 2005. “Voices, Hierarchies and Spaces: Reconfiguring the Women's Movement in Democratic South Africa.” Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies 32 (2): 175–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatem, Mervat. 1994. “Egyptian Discourses on Gender and Political Liberalization: Do Secularist and Islamist Views Really Differ?” Middle East Journal 6 (1): 661–76.Google Scholar
Hatem, Mervat. 2013. “Gender and Counterrevolution in Egypt.” Middle East Report 268:10–17.Google Scholar
International Labor Organization. “Egyptian Constitution of 1971.” https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/electronic/34111/67289/f.Google Scholar
Htun, Mala, and Piscopo, Jennifer. Women in policy and politics in Latin America and the Caribbean, Social Science Research Council, CPPF working paper, http://webarchive.ssrc.org/working-papers/CPPF_WomenInPolitics_02_Htun_Piscopo.pdf.Google Scholar
Irving, Helen. 2012. “Where Have All the Women Gone?” Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 4 (2): 89–115.Google Scholar
Johansson-Nogués, Elisabeth. 2013. “Gendering the Arab Spring? Rights and (In)security of Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan Women.” Security Dialogue 44 (5–6): 393–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamal, Hala. 2015. “Inserting Women's Rights in the Egyptian Constitution: Personal Reflections.” Journal for Cultural Research 19 (2): 150–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khafagy., F. 2007. “Assessment of National Machineries in Egypt.” Cairo: Euromed Role of Women in Economic Life Programme.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, David. 2012. “Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood Declared as Egypt's President.” New York Times, June 25. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/world/middleeast/mohamed-morsi-of-muslim-brotherhood-declared-as-egypts-president.html.Google Scholar
Lombardi, Clark, and Brown, Nathan. 2006. “Do Constitutions Requiring Adherence to Shari'a Threaten Human Rights? How Egypt's Constitutional Court Reconciles Islamic Law with the Liberal Rule of Law.” International Law Review 21 (3): 379–435.Google Scholar
Messieh, Nancy, and Gaber, Suzanne. 2015. “A Win for Women in Egypt's Courts.” Menasource. http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/a-win-for-women-in-egypt-s-courts.Google Scholar
Morsy, Maya. 2014. “Egyptian Women and the 25th January Revolution: Presence and Absence.” Journal of North African Studies 19 (2): 211–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nazneen, Sohela, and Sultan, Maheen. 2014. “Voicing Demands: Feminist Activism in Transitional Contexts.” In Voicing Demands Feminist Activism in Transitional Contexts, 1–28. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Rabie, Amr, ed. 2012. Intekhabat majles al sha`ab 2011/2012. Cairo: Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies (in Arabic).Google Scholar
Rai, Shirin, ed. 2000. International Perspectives on Gender and Democratisation. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sholkamy, Hania. 2012. “The Jaded Gender and Development Paradigm of Egypt.” IDS Bulletin 43 (1): 94–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sivak-Reid, Kayla. 2016. “Tracing a State and its Language from Province to Republic: Translations of Modern Egypt's Constitutions.” (English language translation of Egypt constitution of 1956, 43–75.) Digital Commons. http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=classics_honors.Google Scholar
Suteu, Silvia, and Draji, Ibrahim. 2015. “ABC for a Gender Sensitive Constitution Handbook for Engineering Constitution-Making.” Euromed Feminist Initiative IFE-EFI. http://www.efi-ife.org/sites/default/files/ABC%20for%20a%20Gender%20Sensitive%20Constitution.pdf (accessed 29 January 2019).Google Scholar
Tadros, Mariz. 2010. Quotas: A highway to Power in Egypt…but for which women? In Tadros, M and Alcantara, A: Quotas: Add Women and Stir? IDS Bulletin (41:5, 88–99).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tadros, Mariz. 2012. The Muslim Brotherhood in Contemporary Egypt: Democracy redefined or confined? UK: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tadros, Mariz. 2016. Resistance, Revolt and Gender Justice in Egypt. New York: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Tadros, Mariz. 2017. ‘Does revolutionary politics reconfigure Islamist women's agency organizationally? The case of the Muslim Sisters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (1928-2013).’, Feminist Dissent, 2, 85–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tadros, Mariz. 2018. ‘The Pitfalls of Disentangling Women's Agency from Accountability for Gender Equality Outcomes The Case of Egypt.’ Feminist Dissent, 3, 57–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tripp, Aili. 2016. “Women's Movements and Constitution Making after Civil Unrest and Conflict in Africa: The Cases of Kenya and Somalia.” Politics and Gender 12:78–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, Catherine. 2015. “Transitional Constitutionalism and the Case of the Arab Spring.” International and Comparative Law Quarterly 64:267–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UN News Center. 2017. “UN Human Rights Chief Urges Repeal of Repressive NGO Law in Egypt, June 1.” http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56878#.Wk9M5FVl_IU.Google Scholar
Viterna, Jocelyn, and Fallon, Kathleen. 2008. ‘Democratization, Women's Movements and Gender Equitable States: A Framework for Comparison.’ American Sociological Review 73: 668–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waylen, Georgina. 1994. “Women and Democratization: Conceptualizing Gender Relations in Transition Politics.” World Politics 46 (3): 327–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waylen, Georgina. 2004. “What Can the South African Transition Tell Us about Gender and Democratization?” Occasional paper number 9, September 2004. Queens University, Belfast, Ireland.Google Scholar
Waylen, Georgina. 2006. “Constitutional Engineering: What Opportunities for the Enhancement of Gender Rights?” Third World Quarterly 27 (7): 1209–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Women and The Constitution : the Egyptian Feminist Organizations Coalition. 2013. Women and the constitution. Cairo: Centre for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance (in Arabic)Google Scholar
World Intellectual Property Organization. “Egypt Constitution of 2012.” http://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/eg/eg047en.pdf.Google Scholar