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Women's rights get short shrift in Egypt's makeover

The first flush of revolution is like a drug - colors, surging emotions, a beautiful future ahead. But what happens when the drug wears off?

The first flush of revolution is like a drug - colors, surging emotions, a beautiful future ahead.

But what happens when the drug wears off?

That's the question with women's rights in Egypt. Women - at least from the point of view of Western TV coverage - appeared prominently in the Egyptian uprising that led to the resignation of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. They protested, they spoke to the media, they slept overnight - once unthinkable - in Tahrir Square. Aasma Mahfouz became world famous when she posted a YouTube video Jan. 18 that went viral. Her hijab did not prevent her from challenging men everywhere: "If you think yourself a man, come with me on Jan. 25" - the first big rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

But as Saturday's referendum nears on amendments to Egypt's constitution, the first surge has faded, and women's rights seem far in the background.

When a committee was assembled to draft the amendments, not a single woman was on the panel. And on March 8, International Women's Day, women took to Tahrir Square again, but this time they were heckled, booed, and threatened. Journalist Ethar El-Katatney wrote on Twitter: "Was just ranted at by a 'sheikh' telling me to go home and raise my kids."

Geoffrey Mock, Egypt specialist for Amnesty International, writes by e-mail: "It's disheartening that first steps taken by the interim government have been indifferent to the calls for reform by the many women who took to the streets in the Egyptian uprising. To exclude women from the panel recommending legislative and constitutional reforms bodes poorly for hopes for a new Egypt."

Although just a part of the overall social turmoil now gripping Egypt, the cause of women's rights may be involved in Saturday's referendum.

Catherine Warrick, assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, says, "There's a movement to get people to vote no on the new constitution, because it essentially reactivates the old one."

Women's rights are but one of many interests at stake. "There's some concern," Warrick says, "the presidency would be limited to men, and bigger concerns about freedom and inclusion. Many younger activists who really got the ball rolling with the protests, both male and female, have concerns about minority rights and women's rights."

One prominent Egyptian woman urging a no vote Saturday is Tahani al-Gebali, Egypt's first female judge and vice president of the Supreme Constitutional Court. She says she'll vote no. She favors an interim president obliged to call full-scale elections after six months.

But Gebali also feels the amendments hurt the cause of women's rights. In an interview with Noha El-Hennawy of the Egyptian newspaper Almasry Alyoum, she points out that despite gains in the 1950s and 1960s, "since the 1970s, there has been a wave of cultural regression" that has rolled back rights women are guaranteed under the law.

David Nassar, chief executive officer of Hotspot Digital and a Middle East expert, calls women's rights "a sensitive issue for many Arabs and Arab Americans, because the way the West sees women in the Middle East is simply inaccurate, and is often used as a stick to beat Islam with."

He warns Westerners against expecting overnight transformation: "It will be a slow process, but I believe something has changed, and Egyptians can't go back to the way it was before. The women who are taking part in this change, and the men who are welcoming them, are heroes, and we should all remember that."

As ever in the Middle East, appearances mask complex realities. Egypt does have prominent women, such as Gebali and Nawal El Saadawi, an outspoken political activist for close to 50 years, but they tend to be isolated. They are go-to figures for the news media, but not necessarily representative of society.

And country differs from country. Women were more prominent in uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia than in Libya. And although less prominent in the Palestinian territories since the 2007 Hamas takeover of Gaza, leaders and thinkers such as Suad Amiry, Hanan Ashrawi, and Zahira Kamal have played important roles in Palestinian history.

From far-away Bahrain in the gulf region, Reem Khalifa, senior editor at Al Wasat newspaper in Manama, says: "Women have been held back for a long time in this region, and whether it's influence from other countries, or just a wind of change blowing through the Arab nations, I think people want their freedoms. And as much as men want freedom, I think for a woman it is even more important. She wants it even more."

What should happen? Nassar, Monk, and Warrick agree: Family law must be reformed. "Those are the laws governing divorce, child-raising, traveling without approval from the husband, inheritance," says Nassar. "Reforming family law changes the whole ball game, because it entails larger changes in society."

Why, after so many disappointments for women, might it be different this time in Egypt? "There's been a general political shift," says Warrick. "The forces that toppled Mubarak will not just go home. There is more concern with inclusiveness and participation - and people have already shown they are willing to take to the streets."

"I believe a new woman has arisen, in the gulf region and in the other Arab states," says Khalifa. "This is the woman who wears Gucci trainers under her abaya."