Transitions in Egypt and Tunisia through the Prism of Gender Equality

15th New Faces Conference
“Transitions in Egypt and Tunisia through the Prism of Gender Equality”
Cairo 13-16 January 2012

This New Faces Conference will be devoted to an in-depth analysis and dialogue on gender equality in Egypt and Tunisia since the uprisings took place. The target group are 20 Young Professionals (YP) with four to five years of professional work experience (aged around 28-35) in academia, politics, and civil society organizations such as research centers, NGOs or the media, and who deal with gender equality and related issues. The YP should come from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, Germany, the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Greece.

I. General Outline
The role of women in the two countries’ historical shifts cannot be overstated. Women from all walks of life stood side by side with men during the revolution, and equally shouldered actions and challenges regardless of their severity and danger, with the need to acknowledge that women’s activism and participation were decisive and significant in educating about atrocities and injustices of the former regime and in mobilizing the masses to participate in the upheaval, and this is just to name a few of women’s fields of action and activism. There was hope that conventional gender relations have dissolved and that the sense of solidarity and egalitarianism witnessed during the weeks of revolt would translate into a broader socio-cultural revolution regarding the status and role of women in both societies. Not surprisingly very soon this euphoria and optimism needed to make way for a sobering reality: changing the mind-set of a people and eliminating patriarchy, archaic traditions, and sexism is much more difficult to achieve than toppling the head of a state. Specific developments that occurred after the toppling of the two presidents led to an outcry in activists’ circles, fearing the sidelining of women and gender equality in general.

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