Egyptian lawmaker Ms Huda Ghaniya has affirmed that allocating a quota for women in Egypt’s constituent panel entrusted with writing the country’s new national charter is an unjustified overt encroachment upon their rights. Dr. Huda Ghaniya, member of the Constituent Assembly (CA)’s Basic Components Committee and member of the People’s Assembly (Egyptian lower house of Parliament), criticised calls by some leftists and liberal activists for quotas in the CA, demanding representation of women at 50% of the CA’s membership. She stressed that those demands are unacceptable now, since no one should stipulate specific shares in elected bodies, or quotas in the Cabinet or the CA.
Ghaniya pointed that Articles on equality and non-discrimination in the new Constitution are sufficient to safeguard women’s rights, preserving their right to participate in public work. “That definitely is incompatible with the idea of quotas and discrimination of minority and women, which is an insult to women. The societal culture and women’s endeavours are the main factors that should impact women’s presence on the political scene.” The CA member expressed her profound amazement at the formal complaints lodged by the National Front for Women of Egypt against the CA for a perceived lack of representation of women in the CA.