Women and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood post-2013: Calls for Gender Reforms and Pluralism

Abstract

The Muslim Brotherhood’s brief period of governance in Egypt, followed by its 2013 ousting from, power heightened the movement’s pre-existing internal divisions, causing members to question the tenets upon which the organization was established and ran. Since then, a growing body of literature has investigated the Brotherhood members’ call for internal reforms, but this rests largely on the views of its male members. In order to fill this gap, this article explores how the Muslim Sisterhood, an important but often overlooked Brotherhood constituency, envisages the movement changing in the aftermath of 2013. Findings based on interviews with Muslim Sisterhood members suggest that the central issues over which women envisage change within the movement include the Sisterhood’s desire for greater pluralism, the possibility to express women’s diverse identities, and the ability to pursue personal ambitions.