Calls for peace filled the air as representatives from over 20 existing and newly emerging women’s anti-war initiatives from various civic and political backgrounds and geographical locations within Sudan gathered in Cairo, Egypt.

The meeting aimed at  coordinating  their efforts towards peace enforcement in Sudan.

Egypt is hosting a regional dialogue to boost women's political participation in the Arab world, bringing delegations from 11 Arab countries.

The three-day event, which kicked off on Monday in Egypt's capital Cairo, is organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Arab Women Organization (AWO), an intergovernmental organization affiliated with the Arab League.

By Fatma Tawfik

In 2019, after Egypt witnessed a long fight for gender equality in the political, economic and social spheres, the Egyptian parliament approved a constitutional amendment that includes a gender quota, reserving 25 percent of parliamentary seats for women. 

In the fierce competition for individual seats in the Senate elections, women compete for 91 seats in 20 electoral districts nationwide, out of 787 candidatesin Cairo Governorate.

Alexandria Governoraterankssecond in terms of the number of female candidates, with 12 female candidates, followed byQalyubia Governorate with 9 female candidates.

Egypt’s House of Representatives approved, on Tuesday, a new law that will see the country’s parliamentary electoral districts redrawn. 

The draft law was approved by a two-thirds majority of parliament members that will see Egypt divided into 143 electoral districts devoted to the individual system elections, while the list system will be held in four electoral districts.

The Egyptian Parliament has approved an amendment to an article in the constitution to allocate 25 percent of seats to women, local daily Egypt Today reported.

During the years of 1979, 1984 and 2010, when Egypt applied a quota for women in the House, the Parliament witnessed high female representation, according to a report by The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) in 2014, which called for at least 30 percent of the Parliament to be allocated for women.

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing us all to enter a new normal; a new way of life that is pushing us to change the way we work, create and understand the world. Creativity, resilience and exploration of new methods is now necessary to be able to navigate through the crisis.

Nazra for Feminist Studies launches a campaign entitled: “A Shuttered Public Sphere”, as part of the events of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign that starts on the 25th of November each year, which is the international day for the elimination of violence against women, and ends on the 10th of December, international Human Rights Day.