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Sunday, March 12, 2000
Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the First Conference of the National Council for Women, I am pleased to welcome and congratulate you for being chosen as members of this council which is considered one of the most significant new institutions of the Egyptian society as it steps into a new stage of evolution. Here, development and comprehensive revival is no longer the exclusive responsibility of the state but rather the common responsibility of both governmental and non-governmental organizations which are based on voluntary work. Thus, all these organizations work in harmony seeking to realize national objectives that enjoy an overall common vision of the national action priorities in its various domains. Before introducing my viewpoint as to the responsibilities and major missions of your council, I think it is necessary to single out, with appreciation, the efforts exerted by the National Committee on Women of which some of you were members. This committee provided an honourable example of the serious, meaningful national action. Besides, it successfully managed to highlight women's issues and rights, along with the urgent need to promote the status of woman being the foundation stone for building modern society. This should be undertaken within a real understanding of sublime values that reflect the Egyptian society's vision of family and woman's message and responsibility. Thus, a public awareness has been created of the importance of qualifying and empowering women enabling them to carry out their message and responsability side by side in order to attain comprehensive social, economic and cultural revival. You, undoubtedly, know that the establishment of a National Council for Women at the beginning of this new century, comes as a clear expression of our awareness of the nature of the exisiting stage of the national action and our vision of the complex phenomena on the international arena, some of which partly reflect on the course of our national work. It is therefore necessary to admit that the coming years will bear in store for us new sophisticated challenges. Hence, we have to face them with a piercing and scrutinizing outlook and confidence in our ability to realize the utmost benefit from the new world order. While avoiding any negative effects that may impair our interests, we should not isolate ourselves from the world or back away from participating in formulating and rationalizing the rules governing international relations and dealings. In other words, we are confident of our ability to embark, with firm steps into the battle ground of global economy with its new concepts and mechanisms. We are also sure of our eligibility to participate effectively in setting up and enhancing the rules and systems necessary to control international relations and realize the required balance between various states and blocs without losing our cultural identity or our prospective role at present and in future. A salient feature of the new world order is the growing importance of manpower as a decisive factor for realizing any social or economic progress. The wealth of nations is no longer assessed by its natural resources but by the efficiency and creativity of its human resources. For us, this means that we should exert unceasing and intensive efforts over the coming years so as to improve the efficiency of our human resources, raise the standard of the Egyptian individual and enhance his ability to tackle renewable challenges. We should also be able to make use of advanced technologies and modern systems so as to upgrade the production of commodities and services as well as management of public and private organizations. Egyptian producers and innovative works should be empowered to engage in the race of competition in foreign markets. Hence, emerges the significance of the central role of women in bringing about these necessary transformations not only as regards combating illiteracy among women and fostering their learning background but also as regards women's basic and pivotal role in raising new generations, preparing them to strongly and efficiently face the demands of the time. We are all fully aware of the huge responsibility awaiting the new generation of Egyptian youth and are fully confident of its ability to properly shoulder this responsibility. In view of the above considerations, there was established the National Council for Women, which today holds its first conference. Thus, the conference will discuss three core issues: first, women's participation in development; second, women and the cultural revival; and third, the role of women in public and political life. Although the subjects covered by these core issues have been the object of interest to all specialists and researchers all over the past decades, they still call for more consideration discussion and large-scale exchange of opinions from various perspectives. This is particularly requried at present as many of these issues have considerably changed and evolved over the past few years; hence, redoubling the importance of reconsidering and reviewing these subjects in the light of new realities. As regards the first core issue, there emerges the essential role of women in socio-economic development. It is now self-evident that balanced development can be achieved only by eliminating the disparity between man and woman and redoubling efforts exerted by both the governmental and non-governmental organizations to narrow the gap between them as a means to raise the standard of the family income. This goal can be achieved only if the woman, the mainstay of the family, is capable of engaging in advanced productive work. She should be scientifically and pshychologically qualified to participate in the production process and acquire necessary skills to use state-of-the-art techniques to this end. In addition, she should be ready to shoulder the burdens of such participation. Woman undertakes this responsibility in all rural and urban areas alike, for comprehensive development begins from the countryside. Should it be confined to urban areas alone, it will not be fully accomplished, but will rather remain marginal or meagre in certain provinces. As regards the second core issue relating to the role of women in the cultural revival it can be seen that culture and education are evidently concomitant. In other words, we cannot think of a real cultural promotion in the absence of an advanced modern eductional system that focuses on maximizing the powers of intellect and cognitive skills and training individuals in good reasoning. At core, the educational process should be so designed as to promote intellectual, creative and innovative skills rather than quantitative accumulation of information. This requires us to continue to enhance education in Egypt, as a national high-priority and central issue, that should be addressed in all development and construction plans. This having been accomplished, it would be possible to achieve cultural revival, in the wider sense of the word, by building on the foundation laid down by education and instilling into the community new traditions and customs. Chief of these are to nurture the habit of reading among all age groups so that it will turn into a deeply entrenched value in popular ethos. The starting point for woman's role in this field is the adjustment of population growth rate. Population explosion will remain the greatest menace that undermines the very core of development efforts. It further drains up the state resources and the whole community's efforts to the extent of curbing an ambition to a tangible improvement in the living standards for individual, family and community as a whole. Thus, the best we could aspire to would be to maintain current levels. This is a situation that falls short of our great expectations and legitimate aspirations for an all out revival yielding benefit to all citizens of this country. This would involve attention to arts, letters, training the individual to play his role as an active and productive member of an evolving community, formulate comprehensive vision of his goals and role in society, and enhance his ability to accept different visions and personal opinions, exercise tolerynce and discard fanaticism and extremism. Moving to the third core issue related to the role of woman in public and political life, we should point out that this role should have a top priority. The community will never attain any significant progress in the absence of wider participation in public life by all citizens without distinction between males and females, young and elderly, rich and poor. Failing such wide participation, democracy will remain a form devoid of content and appearance devoid of substance. Hence, we do urge the Egyptian woman to embark onto the arena of public work and political activism without the least fear or hesitation and take part in issuing legislation setting the pace of societal mobility and defining sights and obligations . It is not in the public interest that a minority of people would exclusively undertake the task of setting the path for our country to take part in this critical juncture and selecting such alternatives that ensure national goals are properly realized. I hope that the forthcoming elections of the People's Assembly will witness a qualitative leap towards wider participation by women in political and legislative work in Egypt. Ladies and Gentlemen, These are some of the thoughts that come to my mind in this connection, which I do render to you as a contribution to activate dialogue in your conference. It is my belief that in order to attain comprehensive revival and progress, active participation by all categories of the community is required. We all are in agreement on admitting the need to insist on changing our current realities to the better, with full regard to our values and principles. We thank Allah Almighty that our spiritual values and religious teachings triumph for the standing of woman and urge equality between man and woman. I do pray to Allah Almighty to preseve your effort and guide your steps to attain the best that satisfies Him and yields benefit to us all. May Allah's peace and mercy be upon you |
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