featured in Carter Center

 Meet Egyptian  

Fatma Emam

Sept. 17, 2012

Fatma Emam

During Egypt's January 2011 revolution, human rights activist and blogger Fatma Emam demonstrated for change in Tahrir Square day after day with thousands of other men and women. Post-revolution though, she found women's rights left behind.
"There are so many women who like me defied their families," Emam told Bloomberg News at the time. "The revolution is not only taking place in Tahrir, it is taking place in every Egyptian house. It is the revolution of fighting the patriarch."
As a young woman in a religiously conservative and patriarchal society, Emam faces risks both in her life and work as a researcher at Nazra for Feminist Studies, a feminist NGO in Cairo that seeks to advance knowledge related to gender equality and rethink gender roles.
"Even if I am afraid, so what? I just have one life so I must live it as best I can," she said. "I am a typical Egyptian woman; we are fighting for our rights every day. We exist and we are visible."
Several months after the revolution, Emam shared her experiences with other activists at a human rights defenders forum at The Carter Center, where a diverse group of believers, scholars, activists, and traditional leaders from 22 countries met to discuss the impact, both positive and negative, that religious and cultural institutions have on women's rights globally.
Before the forum began, Emam also led a workshop for participants about the benefits of using social media like Facebook and Twitter to change social norms and raise voices.
"Social media can be used to connect a bigger mass of people all over the world for social justice because it highlights a lot of issues," she said. "It is an alternative platform for information, not like the mainstream media."
The workshop was part of two days of technical training for activists on topics such as local fundraising, the use of social media and technology, successes and challenges of working within historically patriarchal contexts, and using the arts in advocacy campaigns.
"Advancement of human rights must come from within society, so The Carter Center works to bolster the efforts of local activists who accept great personal risks in the pursuit of human freedom," said Karin Ryan, director of the Center's Human Rights Program. "We also connect them with each other to share experiences and engage them with new audiences to expand and innovate their efforts."
In February 2013, The Carter Center will host human rights defenders and religious leaders in Cairo to further explore the role of religion in advancing the human rights of women. This event will encourage greater efforts by the leaders of major faiths to ensure that women everywhere enjoy the respect and protections of universal human rights.
For Fatma Emam, the fight for human rights takes place every day in her life and work.
"It is all about fighting for your space. You have to push, push, push until you maximize your space. It's a long-term effort, but we need to start by talking about the problems, like how we are perceiving women, especially in religion," she said.

From Ex young feminist, to FRIDA. with love

Life is beautiful, in the darkest moments. It will lend you a beam of light in the end of the tunnel, then you will be free to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

I am saying this because today is an important day for me. I am putting a full stop to my sentence as an advisor of FRIDA, the young feminist fund. I was in charge since November 2010. FRIDA for me is an answer for a prayer I prayed many times. As a young feminist, existence was a hell of struggle, seeking  acknowledgment was an endeavor and support was usually missed.

In 2007, when Mozn Hassan and 4 persons including me started Nazra for Feminist Studies, as an outlet for diverse feminist perspectives and as a platform for youth to discuss gender issues. changing these targets to reality was not an easy task. In every and each fund applicantion, the question of the previous experience and last year budget was a night mare that chased us vigorously. Even the most friendly feminist funds ask this question, and some of them use it only as an info, not as a criteria of accepting or rejecting. and our first support was from Global Fund for Women, with an institutional support to make the dream lively reality. 

That why FRIDA was a must, young feminists need a sensitive grant making body, that understands their needs and try to react positively and that what FRIDA did in a great manner, that it offered its community: knowledge, support and networking , FRIDA asserts that a donor is not that body which transfer money, it is way beyond this, it is about building the movement and supporting the young, diverse and passionate voices.

Through my trip with FRIDA, I discovered new facts about myself and my world. My world is wider that my African sisters, Iranian feminists that always inspire me. Being in FRIDA taught me that feminism is a fact with different manifestations, I related to many of the problems of my dear Mariam from Gerogia, although I might know information about Eastern Europe, but I never imagined the daily battles, and when I imagined through her stories, I felt that I feel the same about many issues, but in my own context. And that is the essence of sisterhood, that the pain is the same, but where in your body, that might change from a feminist to another.

I am not writing this post to say goodbye, I am saying welcome to a new phase of my relation to FRIDA community. FRIDA were I saw passion changing facts and support creating difference.

FRIDA will always be this name that puts a smile on my face and strength in my heart    

كلام رجالة : عن المجتمع اللي بيمسخنا في قوالبه الجامدة

في حاجات في مجتمعنا قادرة انها تسبب صداع دائم لا يشفي و لا يغادرك ابدا، الصداع مش معناه انه الم في الرأس ، بالعكس هو حالة نشاط او اضطراب ذهني يعيق عن الادارك او التفكير المنظم.

انا صداعي الاكبر هو الادوار الاجتماعية للذكور و الاناث ، ايوة سيمون دي بوفوار عندها حق لما قالت : " خلقت انثي و لم اخلق امرأة" . و هي بذلك تشير الي انها خلقت انثي بيولوجيا لكن الادوار الاجتماعية التي تحولها الي امرأة ، اسبغها عليها المجتمع. و دة حقيقي في الحالتين ان الذكور كمان بيولدوا ذكور انما الرجولية هي مجمل صفات و ادوار يفرضها المجتمع علي الذكور.

يعني ممكن نشوف دة من نعومة الاظافر ، من اول البنات اللي بتلبس بمبي و الولاد لبني و اللعب اللي بتجهز الاطفال لادوارهم، البنات تتعود علي انها هي تكون مراعية لمن حولها ، فهي اللي بتسكت عروستها و تنيمها و تأكلها و كلها ادوار الامومة  و في اعمار اكبر يبقي عدة المطبخ او العروسة اللي بتلبسها علي الموضة و تجهزها انها تبقي احلي و تتعلم تكنبكات الحفاظ علي الجمال تأهيلا لها للعب دور " انثي" في حياة "ذكر".و الولاد يترسخ كمان  فيه انه قوي و كل العابه تنمي قدراته الجسدية و كمان يلعب العاب تنمي القدرات الذهنية زي الميكانو

كمان التربية بترسخ حاجات زي البنت ما تعليش صوتها و ما تتخانقش ، و الولد مهما كان حزين و متألم ما يعيطش . نهاية بان البنات بتتزق زق عشان تدرس تخصصات معينة و كمان الولاد ، يعني البنت اللي تتلحس في عقلها و تقرر تدرس هندسة ميكانيكا ، اكيد ها تتمترس و تدافع عن نفسها ضد حرب عائلية ضروس ، و الولد اللي يقرر يدرس تصميم ازياء او حلي برضه ها يدافع عن نفسه علي طول الخط ، غير انه ممكن يتوصم بحاجات مش لطيفة اجتماعيا  .

انا باكتب التدوينة دي عشان اقول لكم علي مبادرة في نظرة للدراسات النسوية، اسمها كلام رجالة.

ليه كلام رجالة. عشان عدة اسباب ( من وجهة نظري)

 محاربة الاضطهاد و القهر و القمع اللي قائم علي النساء مش معناه محاربة الرجال، بل احنا بنحارب الابوية ، الفكرة مش البشر و الابوية هي تسلط الاب ( بكل تنويعاته) الاب الاكبر سنا ، الاكثر سلطة ، عشان كدة اكتر ناس بتتأثر بالابوية هم النساء و الشباب ، لان الابوية بتعلي من قيمة الذكر الاكبر سنا الاوسع نفوذا ، ما دون ذلك يتم قهره.

و دة بينقلنا لنقطة تانية ان الرجالة كمان ضحايا للابوية ، في مواقف اد ايه الرجالة بيتجبروا انهم يأخدوا ردودة افعال معينة ، بتنتقص من ادميتهم و انسانيتهم ، تحت مسمي انت راجل انشف. انا عمري ما ها انسي المشهد اللي الطفل بيلعب بالحمامة و يجي الجد عتريس في فيلم (شئ من الخوف) و يبدبح الطير، مع دم الطير اللي سال ، سال امل الطفل انه يحافظ علي انسانيته برة عنف القوالب و الادوار سابقة الصنع

و اخيرا مهم اوي اننا نعرف اننا رغم اننا متألمين من ان المجتمع و الاهل و الاصدقاء بيجرونا لادوار معينة تخنقنا، الا اننا احنا كمان بنعيد انتاج الادوار دي بشكل اوي باخر ، يعني حتي لو انا رافضة ان الرجل يبقي ادواره واحد و اتنين و تلات .. بس لا انكر خيبتي اذا ما قامش بكل الادوار دي ، يعني انه الحامي و اللي بيوفر الضمان المالي و الضمان بكافة اشكاله.

و عشان نكسر الدائرة الشريرة، نكتب عن ازاي الرجالة بتصنعوا في مجتمعنا ، الكل مدعو للكتابة ، بنات و ولاد، اي بنت اكيد شافت اخ او حبيب او صديق بيعاني من قيد الابوية او بيستغله لمصلحته.

كلام رجالة فرصه للبوح ، فرصة نقف ادام مراياتنا نشوف المجتمع مسخنا ازاي و قد ايه ،  و فرصة نطلب من بعض العون و نستلهم من تجارب بعض و نبتدي رحلتنا في التحرر

اشترك في مبادرة كلام رجالة بقصتك و انتي كمان شاركي معانا

خاطرة 11 مايو 2011

ااكتب عن نظرة و ما يدور بها ، تفاصيل كثيرة و شخوص اكثر في هذه الفكرة ، ااكتب عن القادم لحياتي بطيف و الوان ليمنحها معني جديد، اشعر انني عاطفية جدا و انني سابدو مثل المراهقة ان كتبت عنه ، ااكتب عن ما يدور في الحركة النسوية و ما يعتريها من زخم ، اشعر انني اقرب للصحافية عندما اقوم بذلك و اكره ذلك

ساكتب عن نفسي ، انا متمركزة حول نفسي ، تبدأ الدنيا من حيث اري و ينتهي الطرف الاخر من الدنيا من الافق الاخر . لعل السبب في هذا اهتمام كل من ربوني باشعار بكوني متميزة ولا اخفيكم سرا ، انني اتوتر اذا شعرت اني افقد هذا التميز . حياتي تتغير ، عمري يتقدم ، اتقربت من الثلاثينيات، ما كان مسمومح به في العشرينات لم يعد مسموح به الان، هناك العديد من المسئوليات ، لم اعد الباحثة الشابة التي تتحثث طريقها ، يجب ان تكون كلماتي اكثر حكمة و دقة و رزانة . اعاني و اخاف . هل ان اهل لك ما انا مقدمة عليه ، اعلم اني اكتسبت في طريقي مهارات ليست بقليلة و بقليل من التركيز ، ستصبح ايامي افضل . فقط علي ان اقرر ان اكون افضل و الا اكون طفولية النزعة . هذا قرار العام التاسع و العشرين ان احتفي بنهاية العشرينات بان اترك عهد الطفولة و ابحث عن عمر اخر

Human Rights Defenders Forum 1

I am participating in the Human Rights Defenders forum organized by Carter Center.

Although it was very difficult to come to Atlanta and I faced hard times with my visa and I was interrogated in the airport, but the discussions of the conference made it up for me.

This forum started by idea raised by former president of US Jimmy Carter about the role of religion in advancement or suppression of women , he raised this idea two years ago in the Congress of the world religions  . And that’s why the center organized this forum to allow people from different places of the world , from different religious traditions to share the best practices in this topic. the attendees of the forum are Human Rights activists, academics , religious leaders , traditions leaders and social media activists .

First of all this conference is so special for me because I met Prof Abduallahi Nai'em and he is just a great inspiration for me and many Muslims, his writing of Human Rights, secularism  and Islam is guiding me and many Muslims all over the world . Prof el Naiem is challenging the traditional interpretations of Islam , deconstructing them and offering a progressive point of view that reconcile Islam with concepts like democracy, secularism and Human rights .

The second reason which make me happy that I am presenting Nazra project "exploring taboos " on using the social media to tackle sexuality issues in Egypt , this project is funded by Rising Voices project.  Exploring taboos is a project that is trying to start a public debate about the taboos in the Egyptian society not to confront it and to deconstruct it but to raise awareness and create a safe zone to tackle such issues .

The last reason for my happiness that I found people I related to , follow feminists from the international solidarity network , Women Live Under Muslim Laws and the international campaign for equality in the family law in Muslim world Musawah

The conference is such a safe place to exchange and question ideas and beliefs  and being here is such a unique experience. 

a woman i love :Doaa Abdel Aal

I love to write about great women in my life, I always write about Mozn Hassan. I wrote about my mentors Ziba Mir Hossieni and Amina Wadud and I will write on Omiama abu Bakr.


Today I will write about a friend that always prove that the saying friend in need in friend in deed. I will write about Doaa Abdel Aal .

I met Doaa in WLUML New Volunteer Institute in Malaysia in 2007, I derived her crazy with my childish attitude and my radical nonnegotiable tendencies, and however she was always the rational and pragmatic friend. I and Doaa agree on many issues on being Egyptian nationalist and feminist and we disagree on the pan Arabism ideology and secularism. Doaa showed me good faces of terms and ideologies I always hated, I witnessed her protecting her pan Arabism affiliation and in the same time celebrating and acknowledging other ethnicities in the Arab region and that was the same case with secularism, although she shares with the fear of the Islamists but she can differentiate in a very smart matter between the political Islam and other ideas affiliated with Islam as a paradigm

However we never found that a reason not to be close friend further more in 2010 our relation took a new step that Doaa joined Nazra community as a supporter, Doaa offered us many brilliant insights and she offered us guidance with her experience as a very prominent young expert on gender and politics in Egypt.

I do not write this post only to celebrate the presence of Doaa in my life as an example of dedication, hard work, loyalty and faith, I write it to celebrate an example of a generation of Egyptian women who paved their own way by their hands.

Doaa, my dear, stay strong, spectacular and honest as you always have been, dear I will never forget your endless attempts to support me personally and professionally. stay blessed

a historical day 16 feb

I started calling my self a feminist in 2004, after year of meeting my guardian angel and best friend Mozn Hassan.
I was always questioning the religion and the gender relations, and that was emphasized when I attended the Human rights workshop of the university students by Cairo institute of Human Rights in 2003, because I attended the session of Prof Omiama Abu Bakr about women and Islam. And I found my lost paradise.
I always felt so bad in the Egyptian feminist movement, I felt I do not belong, I called them fundamentalist secular, I was really detached and isolated in my shell in Nazra community and internationally with my network Women Live Under Muslim Laws.
Yes I developed paranoia from the Egyptian feminist movement, but in a historical day in a historical phase of Egypt life. I was invited for the first time to attend the co ordination meeting of the Egyptian Feminist NGO group it was held in the New Women Research Center.
I attended that meeting in horrible fear that I will brutalized or ridiculed but my fate hided the best present to me I witnessed a new Egyptian feminist movement where ideology is not the label, age is not the group and race is not the affiliation . I felt that this is the end of a fear I developed alone and there is no reason to keep it anymore. i saw a new face,i saw unity and acceptance . the revolution brought the best of us 
I just I want to say that I am proud to be in the same track with these women
To read the first statement of the group check here in Arabic

Nazra For Feminist Studies : when work place is a dream

Writing about my dreams which came true is not easy, I want to talk about our Nazra for feminist studies, it strated with Mozn Hassan- our executive director- attempted to claim her place in the Egyptian feminist movement, then we knew each other in 2002, and since then we are trying to negate the fallacy that a secular feminist never work with Islamic feminist and vise versa .

We were tried from years of being neglected and not appreciated or even being invisible as young feminists , not belonging to the leftist  and pan Arab feminist movement.

Nazra started to be a reality in 2006 , when Mozn and I decided to start lobbying to create a legal platform for young  women and men to discuss gender issues and promote gender equality in Egypt . in 2007 we started the long process to create Non governmental organization.

Nazra is aiming to end the age of invisibility of the young feminists in Egypt and produce and disseminate knowledge and artistic products that promote gender equality in Egypt .

Our office, the small save cave is full on young women and men trying to fight patriarchy and to enhance women status in Egypt, the team is composed from scholars, activists and film makers.

I am very passionate that we are in action, we are implementing more than 5 projects this year, with a team of four full timers and five part timers, we are trying to build a safe place to articulate the interests of young people of Egypt regarding women issues.

Nazra for feminist studies is not an office or a team, it is a spirit and a safe cave

Follow Nazra for Feminist Studies on Twitter @nazraegypt account

Not For Sale : Anti Human Trafficking

 

Today we met with David Batstone , the president of Not For Sale organizationin San Francisco, the organization is working on ending the human trafficking and slavery, I liked the presentation for many reasons, the first that I related what they are doing in the organization to the ongoing efforts in Egypt to combat human trafficking, Egypt is suffering from human trafficking crimes, usually against women that they will be sold or so called married for sexual exploitation purposes.  luckily the Parliament just passed the Anti Human Trafficking law in Egypt while the rapporteur of Human trafficking visit to Egypt.

However just after the visit was concluded, the Case of Senator Ahmed Yerima just appeared , the ex governor of Zemfera state and the man who applied the Sharia law in the state, was " married " to a 13 years old Egyptian girl , I was involved with my coworkers in many emails  with Nigerian sisters to try to deal with this case, but sadly the governmental response in Egypt did not mount to the expectations , and also the Egyptian civil society was not sensitive to the case, or even the Egyptian media . it is note worthy to say that the persistent efforts of fellow Nigerian feminists lead to the investigation of the case by the anti trafficking agency in Nigeria and it is a ongoing case.

The second thing that I liked about Not for Sale is using the social media to make change, they are using the new technology like the Iphone applications to verify which companies have bad record regarding human trafficking and they offer these ratings by using iphone application, in addition to that they are developing a map to verify where does the human trafficking crimes happen and it is available online

Finally, they work on internal and global level and they built a powerful network that have many stakeholders, each is contributing in the most adequate way and they stay behind the curtains if that would help in accomplishing their goals.

On Child Marriage

I am interested in the issue of Child marriage in Egypt for many reasons, first because of the huge scandal of Senator Ahmed Yerima, Nigerian Senator who " married" a 13 years old Egyptian girl and the very poor response of the Egyptian government and even the Egyptian civil society and add to that I am conducting a research with my fellow coworkers about the Child marriage in Egypt. And the last reason I dream of a day when I do not see the news of a death of 13 years old bride after the first sexual intercourse or while giving birth.



What strikes me in this issue that the rules are very clear, that according to the national laws: under age marriage is illegal and the ratified international treaties -especially the Convention of Child Rights stipulated the same principle. It is note worthy saying that according to the new child legislation the legal age of marriage is 18 years old, and that was amended in 2008 by rising the age from 16 to 18, and that happened after harsh criticism from the conservative forces in the Egyptian society.


Although the laws are clear, they are always violated, and they are violated by religious and societal claims.


Child marriage is justified that it is part of the Islamic traditions, that Prophet Mohamed Peace Be upon Him married Aisha who was 9 years old and that traditions lasted in the Egyptian society till now and the societal pretexts are either to elevate the economic burden of the high populated families by transferring the responsibility to support the young female members to their husbands and to maintain their chastity and to avoid any unwanted sexual or emotional activity and the latter societal pretext is supported by Hadith saying that whoever able to be married, should get married . And the ability here is explained as the sexual ability to be in union and this ability is earned by puberty age.


Thinking of all what is stated before and remembering my discussion on my post on the rising the legal age of marriage on my Arabic blog Taboohat, I still remember all the Hadith that were miss used and interpreted in favor of the so called early marriage and I remember how I was attacked to dare to say that this Human Rights violations does not belong to Islam, on contrary it negates the Islamic principles of protecting the person and the offspring Hifaz el Nafs w Hifaz el Nasl.


According to my humble experience I should expect to called agent of the west and I want to corapte the pure Islamic society, however I believe that my arguments are based on Islamic principles that child marriage is illegal because of its well known and proven harmful to the girls and to the whole community and even it opposes the correct interpretation of the meaning of ability Ba'ah, which is not only the sexual ability but also the financial independence. And even if the Prophet did it and that is even questioned, there are many arguments saying that Aisha was 17 when the Prophet married her. The Prophet stated that No harm principle is core principle in the Islamic jurisprudence la Darar wala Derar and child marriage is clearly a very harmful practice .


One would argue for years in this topic, that was a humble thoughts in the issue and it would be followed by further clarifications later on

Women in Egypt : views and ideas

On Wednesday 17 of February 2010, I attended a talk of my best friend and co worker Mozn Hassan
The talk was organized by the Egyptian American friendship Association, sponsored by the US embassy in Cairo. This talk was on feminist movement and women rights issues in Egypt.

Four panelists talked, Mona Ali el Deen, women rights activist and trainer, Dalia Zaida a blogger women rights activist and director of the Islamic American Congress office in North Africa, Nehad Abo el Omsan women rights activist and lawyer and director of Egyptian center of women rights and my dear Mozn Hassan, women rights activist, promising young scholar and chairperson of our NGO Nazra for feminist studies.

The talk was informative and contained wide range of views, they talked about the achievements and challenges facing the feminist movement in Egypt.

Two points ringed my bells, one by Mozn about the relation between the feminist movement and the social change movements and the other by Dalia about the genderless cyberspace.


Mozn said that feminist and women rights movement should be associated and linked to the societal reform movements, I think that women rights are never a priority in any societal change movement. Women are not on the agenda , that's why feminist should have their own agenda, establish their support networks and formulate their strategies, I do not mean to be isolated but they should pave their own way.

The other point was raised by Dalia, about the free genderless cyberspace. I reject this argument, cyberspace inherited the patriarchal sentiments of real society. Women are censored and harassed in the virtual space as well. I remember the Egyptian lesbian anonymous blogger that had tons of negative comments on her posts denouncing what she is articulating only because she dared to discuss her sexuality and also Manal Bahey el Deen the high profiled blogger who had hard times when she talked about an incident of sexual harassment she faced.

The talk was very feminist and the floor feedback was very patrichal with some exceptions of good souls