Women’s Voices in Egypt and Globally

Abstract

This chapter reports on Egyptian feminist activism to make the experiences and thoughts of these feminists heard and empowered. The chapter quotes brave women who spoke up for gender equality from 1919 to 2018, in opposition to the censorship of state feminism, Islamic extremists, and the traditional belief that a woman’s place is in the home subordinate to her father or husband. Following feminist standpoint theory, grassroots feminist organizers were interviewed, including a teenager who participated in the front lines of the revolution of January 2011 that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Interviewees were pessimistic about freedom under current president General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whose government jails activists, even for social media posts. However, groups such as Girls Revolution and Young Egyptian Feminists League rely on the relative safety of social media to lobby for equal rights. The internet and cell phones provide women with the ability to organize from the safety of their homes, without scrutiny from police or family—a global phenomenon. With increased access to education and the internet, a “social nonmovement” is occurring, described by Iranian Asef Bayat as lifestyle rebellions that gradually create real change.