Workshop on women’s rights

A workshop held today, Tuesday, by the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights (ECWR), discussed women’s rights in the Personal Status Law.

The ECWR had last year launched a campaign to defend the Personal Status Law, especially after it was fiercely criticised following the 25 January Revolution on the pretext that the rights it grants women were sponsored by Suzanne Mubarak.

The workshop broached several issues major among which is the challenge today facing the Personal Status Law which many Islamists are calling to revise. Revision of the law threatens to curtail the rights of women secured by the current law. Discussions focused on the need to closely work with the legislators to defend women’s rights; collaborate with the media to supply it with real-life data about the suffering of women; and document the injustice inflicted on women as a result of the complicated procedures in the Family Courts.

This workshop comes as a component of a broader plan set up by the ECWR to support women, through defending their rights and creating a network of lawyers capable of defending women’s legal rights, ECWR head Nihad Abul- Qumsan said.

She explained that the centre’s representatives have already met with lawyers in six governorates, in the attempt to reach reasonable means of overcoming legal complexities while seeking the best legal solutions to benefit the family as a whole, not women alone.

Unfortunately, Qumsan commented, some MPs project a negative image of Egypt’s new Parliament when they tackle women’s issues in a degrading manner. She reminded that they have recently demanded that the marriage age for girls should go down to 14, and the right of a man to have sex with his dead wife up to six hours after her death.

The workshop attendance agreed on the importance of looking into the Personal Status Law, especially in what concerns women’s rights, which are part and parcel of human rights in general. They also advised the revision of the practical substance and procedures that will enable us to reach a formula that would respect the rights of all: women, men and children.