Voices for Change Hopes and Costs for Empowerment – a Study on Women’S Claims in the Egyptian Revolution
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! "#$ %#"& "'(## )*+ ,- ./0- / +%#( * 1 (2 1 3 1 4 1( 1 (* 5 (! 6 / 5 (* ( / / , . 5 (* / 7 , /"888. (* (9 6 1 / : (7 / (* : 1 /2 ( 1,"888. 1,"88;. / 3 / 1 (* 5 / (* (/ / (* (2 / / : / / (*// ( %#"& <33 ( (3= > < <<< "'?;?# 2908&?8"&@A8"'8' 2908&?8"&@A8@@A# /"#@8" DOKTORSAVHANDLINGAR FRÅN INSTITUTIONEN FÖR PEDAGOGIK OCH DIDAKTIK 48 Voices for Change Hopes and costs for empowerment – a study on women’s claims in the Egyptian revolution Christine Bendixen ©Christine Bendixen, Stockholm University 2017 Front cover: ©IBL Bildbyrå ISBN 978-91-7649-139-3 ISBN 978-91-7649-664-0 Printed in Sweden by US-AB, Stockholm 2017 Distributor: Department of Education Previous series of Doctoral Thesis: “Avhandlingar från Institutionen för didaktik och pedagogiskt arbete no 1-10 and ” Doktorsavhandlingar från Pedagogiska institutionen no 1-171”. “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.” C. Wright Mills (1959, p.3) Acknowledgments The Greek historian Herodotos traveled around the world about 400 BC and is reputed to have expressed surprise over women’s and men’s equal position in Egypt. Today many aspects in women’s everyday life looks very different. However, people are once again raising their voices for freedom, equality and democracy. On Mohamed Mahmoud Street in central Cairo, there is a huge mural painting by Mohamed Alaa Awad1, an Egyptian artist. In his painting, Alaa Awad made a slight change by portraying the figures as women instead of men, and the women are holding papyrus in their hands, communicating the meaning of wisdom and knowledge. The mural conveys women’s active participation, both in Egypt’s history and today and their quest for equal op- portunities and equal rights. I dedicate this work to all the women in the world who still do not enjoy basic human rights. The completion of this project could not have been possible without the participation of so many people whose names may not all be enumerated. Above all, I would like to thank my informants, the women and men in Egypt who shared their stories and devoted so much time to this project. I am espe- cially grateful to the wonderful people who made me feel so welcome; you made my visits in Cairo and Alexandria a very special experience. I would also like to express my most sincere thanks to my supervisors throughout the project. I am deeply grateful for the support and reassurance of my main supervisor Professor Klas Roth who stepped in at the final stage of my writing, helping me in the best possible way to develop my work. Thank you for your calm suggestions when I was lost. Through your amazing ability to put focus on what I had to do, this thesis is finally finished. Margareta Aspán, my co-supervisor who has been following my work for a long time. Thank you for thorough readings of my text and for all the times you insisted that some part had to be revised and rewritten! Thank you also for your friend- ship during this whole time, for hours spent discussing various issues the first years of my graduate studies when I was trying to understand it all. My deep appreciation and indebtedness also goes to Professor Birgitta Qvarsell. Thank you for sharing your profound knowledge and for guiding me with great patience throughout the process. 1 Shown on the front cover of the printed thesis. The mural is based on an original pylon (a monumental portal painting to an ancient Egyptian temple) in the Ramesseum temple in Luxor. Without the encouragement of my first supervisor Professor Katrin Gold- stein-Kyaga, I probably never would have begun this exciting journey. A warm thank you for your encouragement, for your sincere support and for making me believe that I could do it! Thanks also to Professor Sharon Todd, who once directed my attention to the situation for women in the world and for introducing me to Egypt. Thanks to Professor Max Scheja for reading the manuscript in its final stage, giving me assurance that the project really was about to be completed. Special thanks also to my readers Professor Hans Ingvar Roth and Profes- sor Agnieszka Bron. Your suggestions in the initial phase and a few years down the path in my first and second reading seminars helped me keep on track. Christina Edelbring and Eva Olsson, thank you for so many things! I would also like to direct my warmest thanks to present and former col- leagues at the Department of Education who made this journey much easier and so much more fun, Diana Garavito Bernúdez, Ida Bertell, Åsa Broberg, Kristina Börebäck, Eva Edman Stålbrandt, Khaleda Gani-Dutt, Lena Geijer, Katarina Lagercrantz-All, Eric Larsson, Eva Melin, Natalie Nielsen, Annika Notér Hooshidar, Jonas von Reybekiel Trostek, Petra Roll Bennet, Catherine Ryther & Åsa Sundelin. I would like to direct a very special thanks to Eva Melin, for countless hours of discussing theory, my text and the situation in Egypt. Without your encour- agement I would not have managed. Kristina Börebäck, thank you for many long theoretical expositions and for your unfailing support. Khaleda Gani-Dutt, Megha Khattar and Yaka Matsuda, thank you for an inspirational weekend in Visby before the very last days of finalizing the man- uscript. Special thanks to my friends Lotta, Titti, Malin & Helen who have encour- aged me, brought me out of the house from time to time and made me laugh when I really needed it. Thank you for being there for me, even at times when I was all wrapped up in work, sometimes for months at a time. Finally would like to thank my dear family, my father who has always en- couraged my curiosity and has throughout been an intellectual inspiration. Thomas and Martin who in their own special ways always have supported me in everything I undertake. Thanks also to my wonderful sister in laws Azadeh and Cecilia. Jonas who always challenges me intellectually, Ellen whose positive out- look on life some days literally saved me and Frode who has backed me up in every way possible from the first day of this exciting and challenging task. Thank you for everything! Sollentuna, January 2017 Christine Bendixen Contents Acknowledgments ....................................................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................................ 11 The study’s place and time – Egypt at the beginning of the 21st century ... 12 Getting Access to Democratic Values .................................................................. 13 Women in the Social Sphere and in the Legal System ..................................... 15 Attaining a ‘full life’ – Framing women’s conditions and actions taken ......... 15 Disposition of the Thesis ........................................................................................ 16 1. The Past in the Present ....................................................................... 18 Bread, freedom and social justice ........................................................................ 19 Opposing the prevailing structures ...................................................................... 19 Women’s roles and positions ................................................................................. 23 The importance of education ................................................................................. 24 Women’s social movements – platforms for new knowledge .......................... 25 2. Previous research ................................................................................. 31 Gender and Leading Positions ............................................................................... 32 Democracy and Equal Rights................................................................................. 34 Feminism and Traditional Societies ...................................................................... 36 Summary .................................................................................................................. 37 3. Conditions, Claims and the Cost of Change ................................... 39 Theoretical key concepts and how they are used in this study ...................... 40 The relation between structure and agency ....................................................... 41 Structural change – Elaboration or Reproduction ............................................. 44 Capability and the use of valued functionings ................................................... 45 Connecting Capability and Structural Elaboration ............................................. 47 Opportunity Cost ..................................................................................................... 49 Summary – Theoretical Concepts ........................................................................ 51 4. Methodological considerations ..........................................................