How Did Women Participate In The Politics Of Egyptian Women In Egypt?

Egyptian women did not have the right, or the chance to participate legally in the political life during early 1900s, however, they have always existed in the political scene in Egypt; starting from the queen of Egypt during the monarchy till the normal Egyptian women who joined and lead many forms of demonstrations and protests in the streets of Egypt in attempt to call for a change. In the middle of the 2oth centaury, exactly in 1956, women were given the right to participate in the politics of Egypt through voting in the elections by the former president of Egypt Gamal Abd El Nasser. Rawya Atteya was the first Egyptian and Arab female to run for parliamentary elections, and she gained a seat among men in the 1957 parliament. Since this time, only 64 women have served in the
After this period of time, the National Development Party (NDP) had always the majority of elected either women or men. Independent women were favored during this time; for example, Nariman Al Daramalli who was very popular at that time, and she ran for the constituency of Tema in the governorate of Sohag in Upper Egypt. Al Daramalli did not just win the elections, but she managed to be ranked one of the top candidates who got the highest votes, regardless the fact that Upper Egypt is known to be politically conservative and less favored to women empowerment. Moreover, some people from the political spectrum were disappointed because 23 women only were nominated by informal party-list. Consequently, the newly formed National Council for Women (NCW) supported women and provided them with the help needed to make sure that they were going to win some seats, which happened by 7 women winning seats, more by 5 in the elections of 1995. Most of those seven female winners appeared from outside the metropolis, which shows that a candidate’s ability to be successful in representing the people is more essential from his/her gender or political