Starting next year we will have fifty seven - maybe even sixty four - women in the Egyptian parliament. Do we get ice cream treats for dinner tonight, mama amrika?
The Egyptian government, in what it calls a 'well thought through decision', has decided that there will be an additional 57 seats in the Egyptian Parliament held only for women in next year's election.
Women all over the world rejoice! Because the Egyptian Government, protector of the fragile defenseless "gens el na3em" (the softer gender), is stepping up to the game and will provide you with a nice fluffy soft security blanket to help you in against all those big evil bullying men. The big guys are letting you make your grand entrance on the play ground and show them that you're really worth the effort, and if not - it's ok - they'll just happily put you back on the "samna falla7i" billboard ad and the enticing Melody Arabia video clip.
Had enough of sarcasm just yet? Coz i sure have not!
The 57 (maybe 64 now) seats will be exclusively for women, but this is not a long-term deal, it's temporary for two years to see how it will work and then they'll take more decisions. That's pretty much the gist of what's on the newspapers these days.
- So how is this going to work exactly? Will it be like "taboor el gam3eya" one for women, one for men? Will there be two sets of elections? One to vote in 411 men into the men section and one to vote 57 women into the women section? Or will we disregard the election results and pick 57 men and tell them, yes we know you won but we're kicking you out and giving your position to women instead? Or will we pick 57 seats and only let women run? How will you pick the seats? Aren't they distributed by geographical area? So which district will be the suckers/lucky bastards who are stuck with women?
This is what the dear gov calls "thought through"?
- And this is a temporary thing to "test" things. So it's like a probation period for your new recruit? If they don't perform you fire them? So if those 57 women turn out to be the most useless and corrupt members, you'll back off and say no more?
- I know this is the same old affirmative action story which I have strongly opposed since for ever - i want the best person for the job - be it man, woman, transvestite or even monkey; you get it done best, then you're the one. Proponents argue that not everyone thinks like that and this is a step forward towards a world where people are voted in or hired according to who's best not any other attribute, to those (and to this issue at hand) i say
- Now you're the one who's idealistic! Your gender, ethnic background etc DEFINE who you are to a certain extent, we'll N E V E R get to that place where all people judge people purely on who they are. And if we do, it will not be because of affirmative action! I'd like to see a study that shows exactly how many people have changed their minds about equality because of affirmative action. My guess? It will not be that many
- Lebanon has a system like that with religions, how well is that working? You don't see Maronites, Sunnis and Shiites holding hands and singing kumbaya, now do you?
- To be fair, if we're going to assign seats for women, then all other minorities should get seats too: Copts, nubians, bahaai, sufis.
- So women go from being discriminated against to being the discriminator. She'll get the seat no matter what coz she's a woman, that poor hard working man who would have done an even better job will get the boot because he does not have a uterus? How is that fair? What good could possibly come out of that?
- What if next year 100 women get elected in the normal elections for the 411 seats? Will we add 57 to those? Or will women not run for the original seats?
- What sort of credibility will this woman voted in specially because she's a woman have, once she starts working with other members of the Parliament. How are you supposed to demand respect and equality with other members of Parliament who've been officially voted in when the reason you're there is not because the people want you more than they want anyone else to represent them, but because they were told to only pick from this group because they are women.
The whole notion that women need some law or rule to help them get ahead in politics is just wrong! They do not need a chance to prove that they - as women -can add value, each person speaks and acts for himself or herself not on behalf of all other members of a gender. We cannot judge a gender's value based on some individuals.
A huge step forward? I think not!
7 comments:
Yalla Luly, time to run for parliament!
not to upset you more about their idiotic decisions, but I have a profound belief, that even if their selection process goes perfectly well, among even other teams than women (like the ones you mentioned), still, nothing will change, and sure as hell not to the slight glimpse of a better state of affairs.
And again, why do you follow news in the first place, let aside local news? it's really bad for the stomach, I sometimes feel my IQ is thrashing down trying to interpret stupid people's choices.
The post is great, it warmed my heart.
I have a mind teaser though for our Gov, ahem, in my normal most quintessential day, why the f*** don't I feel I have a parliament to rely on? women or men, I guess we need a whole freaking parliament, nay!, a whole new definition of its role aslan!
God this country really needs the flu! .. or a nuclear experiment gone bad, toxic fumes and so!
well thought through, yuck!
Bust it luli!
What would you have preferred? Are you against having political quotas for woman in general? I believe it's quite common. In extreme cases like Rwanda, they started with a quota, and then woman one even more seats- now they are the first female majority parliament in the world.
Are you against, "affirmative action"? Share with us white, anglo, dudes!
I am against any type of quota whatsoever!
Here's what i would have preferred:
- create more organizations that support women in leadership
- educate women, how bout that!
- Run public anouncement ads that encourage men to have an open mind about women's involvement
- Put women who are currently in leadership positions in key areas where they can shine not in the ministry of environment for example. This way we give people a clear example of value adding women
- Oh, and did i mention EDUCATE people!
Putting quotas is such a clear sign of seggregation and differencial treatment. While there might be cases - like Rwanda - where it's working; i still think that quotas for women in politics or anything for that matter is just not right. Scandinavia has one of the highest female representation in parliament and that was achieved without any quotas but by empowering women within their own parties.
In an not entirely unrelated note yes, I acctually vehemently oppose affirmative action! The fact that the person doing a secific job is hired not because of their skill but because of their gender/race/ethnicity is very discomforting. Every person should demand that the doctor that operates on them, the police officer who protects them and the parliament member that represents them must be the best person, not the best woman or best black person; best person period!
I try to stop the newspaper - but it's harder than you think :(
any by that i meant i tried to stop reading the newspaper, not stop the actual newspaper :P
I totally agree with your additions, especially on education and govt support, but maybe quotas could be part of a larger overhaul?
Found an interesting article on the Scandinavian cases-http://www.quotaproject.org/CS/CS_Norway-matland.pdf
"Superficial knowledge of the Norwegian case led many people to note that, not only were the Norwegians world leaders with regard to women’s representation, but also Norwegian parties had adopted gender quotas. This led to a natural assumption that gender quotas had resulted in the high levels of representation. While this may seem logical, the reality is that, in both Norway and Sweden, quotas were first established in the largest parties only after women had made significant inroads into the party. Before quotas were adopted in the Norwegian Labour Party, women held 25 percent of the parliamentary seats belonging to the Labour Party delegation. Before quotas were adopted in the Swedish Labour Party, women already held more than 33 percent of the seats in the Labour Party Riksdag delegation. So, in the Scandinavian case, quotas may not lead to significant representation, but rather, significant representation may lead to quotas.
Drude Dahlerup and Anita Freidenvall have argued that quotas in Scandinavia represent an example of incremental change.1 This is certainly true. In both Norway and Sweden, quotas were merely the next logical step in a long process. As such, Dahlerup and Freidenvall question the validity of using Scandinavia as a model for emulation in other countries, where women are trying to institute dramatic and relatively quick changes. The conditions in the countries of Scandinavia are distinct enough that it would not be easy to transplant the Scandinavian institutions in other countries and assume they will function in a similar manner.
To provide a better understanding of the Norwegian case, which will hopefully help people to comprehend both how quotas work and why they work, this case study will take a close look at the advances made by women in terms of representation.2 First, the paper briefly describes the legislative recruitment process. Then it outlines the candidate selection process in Norway, before looking at how this process has changed over time as women have lobbied for greater representation in Norway. The final section focuses on relevant lessons for other countries."
Also, I think in scenarios of massive inequality, i.e. in '94 south africa, affirmative action can be a useful transitionary policy- perhaps opposed to a '09 USA racial situation. Between the two extremes were would the situation of women in egypt be I suppose?
power to you luli, in stopping newspapers, or at least stopping reading the dodgey ones. ; )
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