Marginalizing Women under MB Rule

The National Council for Women (NCW) denounced the Muslim Brotherhood's “attempts to marginalize and exclude women from the political scene.

The council described the year during which the Brotherhood ruled as the “worst and most cruel [year] for Egyptian women.”

NCW outlined the council's efforts to resist the adoption of the constitution, which was passed on 25 December 2012.

The council said it opposed the formation of the constituent assembly (CA) because of its violation of the law and its attempt to implement “sectarian division in the Egyptian community.”

The council highlighted that ever since the formation of both CA, there was an obvious intention for only one faction to monopolize the drafting of the constitution,” adding that the proof was that only 7% of CA members were women.

The statement added that all those who represented women in the committee were members of the Islamic current, meaning that their participation in the committee was illegal.

Despite the fact that the council presented a list of nominees to the committee, which included a lot of qualified and experienced women, none of them were chosen and the council itself was not represented in the CA.

The council had also provided the CA with a list of suggestions for the constitution, however, which the assembly did not take into consideration.

The council also criticized Article 68 of the constitution, which puts restrictions on women through the implementation of Sharia law, which opens the door to various opinions of religious scholars allowing the legalization of the marriage of 12-year-old girls and the allowance of female genital mutilation.

The statement added that such practices, which have been promoted by religious scholars, are not related to orthodox Islamic Sharia.

The statement also condemned a suggestion made by the former Shura Council to convict women who have been sexually assaulted during protests.

The council described such a suggestion as “a setback to women's rights” in Egypt.

The Women's Parliament group, a human and women's rights watch also submitted some suggestions to the Legal Experts Committee working on amending the constitution, which include women's rights to participate in political, social, cultural and economic life in Egypt, gender equality, respect towards international women's rights agreements and the illegalization of civilians going on trial before military courts.

People End Muslim Brotherhood Rule
After exactly one year and 3 days in power, the people of Egypt have put an end to President Mohammad Morsi's rule, during which many mistakes were made, the most prominent of which are:

Foreign policy
1. President Morsi's visits failed to open new vistas of cooperation between Egypt and other countries.
2. Egypt's relations with other countries, with the exception of Qatar, Turkey, the US and Israel, declined.

Nile waters
1. The regime's handling of the Ethiopia Renaissance Dam issue has been lacking in terms of the principles of crisis-management.
2. The regime failed to stimulate cooperation and maintain a political dialogue with Nile-basin countries.
Relations amongst Egyptians
1. The regime has created a strong divide between the Islamists and the so-called secularists.
2. The regime was intent on fast-tracking the “ikhwanization” of the state (imposing the doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood on state institutions, etc.).
3. The regime was self-contradictory in most cases, saying one thing and doing the opposite.

Defense & Security
1. The regime's decisions and constitutional declarations triggered wide-scale protests.
2. Jihadists were released from prison and relocated to Sinai, where they were supposed to set up an Islamic emira abetted and assisted by the President himself. These very groups launched numerous attacks on Egyptian army personnel stationed in Sinai; e.g. the 16 soldiers killed while breaking their fast in Ramadan of 2012 and the abduction of the 7 soldiers who were later freed through Muslim Brotherhood intervention.
3. Muslim Brotherhood members would often tongue-lash the military.

Food & services
1. The prices of food and the cost of services continued to rise without the government attempting to interfere.
2. The shortages of petroleum products were so recurring as to affect the daily of citizens.
3. The regime used its supply system to serve its electoral purposes.

Culture & arts
1. The regime sought to redefine Egypt's cultural identity by leap-jumping back the dark ages.
Media & press
2. The regime antagonized the media for exposing its mistakes. After it had been instrumental in introducing Mohammad Morsi as the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate in the 2012 elections, the media was intent on exposing the President and cohorts to the public.
3. The regime was fast intent on “ikhwanizing” state-owned press and media institutions, in an attempt to counter the influence of independent space channels and newspapers.

Judiciary & civil liberties
1. The regime clashed with the Judiciary several times: alienating the public prosecutor; holding the Supreme Constitutional Court under siege; issuing constitutional declarations negatively affecting the Judiciary, civil liberties and state institutions. The public was so enraged that they torched the Freedom and Justice Party headquarters, which compelled the President to backtrack on his decisions.   
2. The Administrative Judiciary Court ruled in March 2013 to suspend the House of Representatives elections and referred the parliamentary election law to the Supreme Constitutional Court. In response, the MB sought to purge the Judiciary by promulgating law which would have replaced thousands by MB supporters.
3. The final blow came when President Mohammad Morsi was accused of collaborating with Hamas to escape from Wadi al-Natroun Prison and destroy prison records in 2011, attack police stations, the intentional killing and abduction of police officers and prisoners, and espionage.

Transport & communication
1. The one-year Muslim Brotherhood rule witnessed many a daily disaster, the most prominent of which was the death of 50 children in Asyout in a train-related accident.
2. During President Morsi's tenure, while the railroad facility performed badly, no new roads were established.

Economy
1. The MB regime depended mostly on borrowing from countries such Qatar and Turkey and sought to secure the IMF loan as a credential of proper performance of Egypt's economy. Meanwhile, as a result of prevailing political and security, the GDP was declining, foreign currency reserves were being depleted, and debt servicing climbed by 30%.
2. The number of floundering factories rose as did unemployment rates; the number of tourists has declined; and local currency depreciated, all of which affected the living conditions of Egyptian citizens.
3. The Egyptian Stock Exchange's losses were calculated in billions of Egyptian pounds; foreign investors fled, and Egypt's credit rating went several points down.