Women played a key role in rejecting Egypt's new constitution, which was imposed by political Islam forces despite objections. The constitution marginalizes women's rights and freedoms, such as by stating the primary role of women is reproduction and limiting their place to the home. It also threatens to allow groups to impose dress codes and behaviors on women. Women's organizations continue working to mobilize against the constitution and new policies that contradict the goals of the January 25, 2011 revolution, with women at the heart of the democratic forces.

1. Egyptian Women at the heart of the fight
Farida El-Nakash
While the crisis of the Egyptian economy is growing harder and
following the different protests because of high prices and poor
government oversight and maintenance of Mubarak's socio-
economic policies, the question being debated widely is over
the new Egyptian constitution. The ruling alliance of political Islam imposed this constitution
on the Egyptian people, despite serious objections made by the forces of democracy in the
heart of which are women's organizations, human rights organizations, political parties and
social movements. These groups that represent democratic forces agree that the
constitution is a step backward and is detrimental to the goals of the revolution of January
25 2011: bread .. Freedom .. Social justice .. Human dignity, both in the aggression on public
freedoms, or the overthrow of the independence of the judiciary or the marginalization of
women's rights and restricting freedoms in the name of religion and through infrastructure
authoritarian constitution, which was voted against by 36.10% of the Egyptians, according to
the results announced by the Government formed by the Freedom and Justice Party; the
result was challenged by the National Salvation Front because of the fraud in the
referendum .
What draws attention to this rejection of the constitution is that women of all ages and
different backgrounds, political and social ideologies played key roles in it, as they queued in
front of the committees to vote since early morning until late at night during the 2 days of
the referendum. The polls in front of the committees also showed that a large proportion of
whom voted no, especially educated women while the forces of political Islam exploited
poor women by giving them food and money to vote "yes".
The vote was in protest also on the process of intentional marginalization to women's issues
in the text of the constitution, and before that in the formation of the Constituent Assembly
that wrote it. In addition, the vote was against the formation of the government and
national institutions set up by the new rulers according to their whims and ideological
political interests, since political Islam perceives women as inferior and considered chattel
for the man must be under his custody, whether a father or a brother or a husband or even
a son, and in the propaganda of the Constitution Islamists have focused on the need for
women to obey their husbands; when a woman in rural Egypt told her husband she voted no
he divorced her.
The new constitution singled out women's issues in the tenth article, which comes in the
second chapter titled "social and ethical constituents" and states that (note the selection of
the chapter that where women's issues are mentioned is the one that mainly focuses on
ethics .. the Article says):

2. "The family is the basis of society founded on religion, morality and patriotism and the state
and society is keen to abide by the inherent nature of the Egyptian family and the cohesion
and stability and the consolidation and protection of moral values and as regulated by law.
The State shall ensure maternal and child services free of charge, and reconciling the duties
of women towards her family and her work, and the state pays special care and protection
of women breadwinners, the divorced and the widowed".
The text on the keenness of the state and society to abide by the nature inherent of the
Egyptian family threatens Egyptian women with the emergence of groups for "Promotion of
Virtue and Prevention of Vice" claiming to represent the society to impose certain behavior
and dress code on women, which had happened in a limited way ahead of the Constitution
when a young man was killed because he was walking with a girl, and a teacher cut the hair
of two unveiled female students, and a sheikh accused an actress of being a prostitute
because art is forbidden.
This text decided that the primary role of women is reproduction without reference to their
political rights, a text that corresponds with the thought of political Islam on women which
limits the place of women to their home, it is also advisable to hide behind the veil or
headscarf because women raise concern and discord in the public sphere.
You would observe that the Constitution did not refer to the commitment towards
covenants and international conventions signed by Egypt, and the International Convention
for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Universal
Declaration on violence against women; there had been widespread controversy among
women's organizations on the one hand and women of the Freedom and Justice ruling party
On the other hand about the legality of female genital mutilation, which had been abolished
by the decision of the Minister of Health a few years ago. The party seeks to reverse that
decision defending circumcision, although it is proven that circumcision has nothing to do
with religion…But the position is a manifestation of male dominance that aimed at
subjugating women by all means, including violence against them physically and morally,
economically and politically.
During the writing of the Constitution Salafis insisted during discussions to cancel a
paragraph saying "there is no distinction between the Egyptians because of sex, religion,
declaring explicitly that it is not permissible to establish equality of men and women nor
Muslims and Christians". However, the U.S. administration still supports the system of
political Islam in Egypt.
Despite these conditions and practices that are hostile to women, the women's
organizations and human rights organizations and democratic parties continue to work and
mobilize not only against the constitution, which appears to be fallen realistically, despite
the results of the referendum, but against all economic and the new legal and social policies
which the glorious January 25 revolution stood for; this revolution that interacts with factors
on the ground as seen in its second phase and women are in the heart of them.