Activism against sexual violence was one of the Egyptian Revolution's most significant mobilising forces, but the country's return to authoritarian rule has circumvented possibilities for organising and carrying out political resistance, including activism against sexual harassment. This article shows that despite this political oppression, young feminists continue to raise their voices and organise against the continuing problem of sexual violence. To illustrate this, the article draws on interviews considering a recent controversy surrounding allegations of sexual violence within the Egyptian political party Bread and Freedom. Interviewees describe that instead of receiving support in their criticism of the party's handling of the accusations, they were criticised by feminist and human rights activists, creating serious fragmentation among earlier united activists. The analysis shows that when young feminists saw former allies abandon the movement's previously formulated objectives against sexual violence, their collective memory of past achievements bolstered their conviction that they should compromise neither on the definition of sexual violence nor on the ways to confront it. In fact, their careful adherence to the activism's past principles and efforts serves as a mechanism for sustaining continuity in their feminist movement even as the political climate circumscribes opportunities for activism.
This article analyzes the efforts of Egyptian feminist activists to insert gender equality in the country’s post-revolutionary constitutions in 2012 and 2014. While the literature on women’s political role during this period provides insights into exclusionary gender practices and conditions for bargaining power structures, this study contributes with a conceptual analysis of how feminist activists construed constitutional gender equality. The study is based on interviews with, and written statements by, activists engaged in the constitutional process. The article argues that these activists viewed the constitution as a central instrument in the struggle for gender equality and demanded a gender equality model beyond the sameness/difference paradigm. Instead, they argued for a substantive notion of gender equality that reflected women’s situated experiences while they, at the same time, navigated the legacies of Egypt’s earlier constitutions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.