The Purpose of This Paper Is to Show How Far the Quota for Women, Though Not Implemented

Proposal

Ever since the 1952 Revolution, Egypt has been facing lots of political challenges such as: elections, legislations, constitution amendments . . .etc. One of the major challenges is the right of women to political participation. Thanks for the efforts of many great Egyptian reformists like Qassim Amin, Huda Sharawy and Doria Shafiq, struggled to obliterate the view that women are not equal to men and that they are unable to make political decisions. They struggled against a culture that had it that women have no right to be part of the political spectrum, since they cannot be trusted with making political decisions. That is in addition to the conservative Islamic movements that came to the surface and strongly did not only oppose women's political participation but they also were against any form of participation, be it social or political. Recently, leaders have realized how big the problem is. This paper focuses on the recent proposals that a quota of 64 seats in the

.parliament should be allocated to women

The purpose of this paper is to show how far the quota for women, though not implemented yet, will enhance women's political participation. Actually, allocating a quota for women in the parliament is a step towards promoting women's participation, not only in the political field, but also in different community activities, and also towards overcoming the obstacles that are preventing them from practicing their political and legal rights. By the new women's quota, 64 seats in the parliament are to be occupied by no one but Egyptian women. This will help women show their abilities by making turning .legislations. The quota will also enlarge women's contribution to community services

The paper is divided into four parts. The first part demonstrates the efforts made by revolutionary movements that aimed at ensuring that women get to exercise their political rights. The second part discusses the advantages of women's participation in the political field, giving examples from other Arab countries where the quota system is applied. The third part shows the obstacles that have always prevented women from exercising their political rights. The fourth part explains the .reasons of the opponents of the quota system. The last section is the conclusion

The information provided in this paper comes from different sources, but the paper depends mainly on Shirin Rai's book, International Perspectives on Gender and Democratization and Julie Stone Peters' and Andrea Wolper's book, Women's Rights, Human Rights. It also relies on newspapers such as Alahram Weekly and Gulf News. That is in addition to a 2005 UN report titled The Arab .Human Development Report

iiiiii .All required information is present and correct following the proposed structure, format and style i

.Hardly any errors in spelling, grammar and sentence structure ii

.The proposal is of appropriate length iii