Brotherhood 'a threat to women'

2005-12-07 09:49

Cairo - The spectacular performance of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt's legislative polls has heightened fears of a clampdown on women's freedom should the Islamist group ever come to power.

Liberal writer Nawal Saadawi said: "I am against all their policies. Not only the ones related to women."

The feminist activist said: "Their political stance of openness is a mere tactic to reach power."

She was referring to the group's promise not to force women to wear the veil.

But, the radical leftist said women in Egypt were also victims of the Western consumerist culture "promoted by the United States".

Tolerated Muslim Brotherhood

She said: "Egyptian women are lost between the Americanised consumerist culture of stripping off, and the Islamists' call to wear the veil."

The officially banned, but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood had already secured 76 of parliament's 454 seats after two phases, five times its tally of 15 in the outgoing chamber.

The Islamist movement had no chance of coming to power in these elections, but it had demonstrated its grassroots support and the success rate of its candidates suggested it could win a majority in the future.

Novelist and university professor Sahar al-Moji also dreaded a scenario, where "all freedoms will be curbed" if the Brotherhood came to power.

Eligible voters She said: "The Brothers' movement was the origin of all other radical Islamist groups. If they reach power they would be as radical as other extremists."

But, Moji consoled herself by claiming that the Brothers don't represent the masses, "as only 25% of eligible voters cast their ballots."

She said: "Thirty-three of 35 girls in a class I teach at university are veiled. But, they are not all from the Brothers. Egyptians have their own way of being religious."

In ultra-conservative Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, women had to cover from head to toe in a loose black robe, but Egyptian veils came in all shapes and colours.

Arabic music channels

Women in conservative Islamist families could often be seen wearing the niqab face cover, but they mingle in the streets with young women combining colourful headscarves with skimpy tops and low-waist jeans.

A video clip shown regularly on Arabic music channels featured one such 'modernly' veiled young woman swaying her body as she co-stars with an Egyptian male singer.

The shooting took place on a Cairo bridge over the Nile River, where headscarved teenage girls strolled hand-in-hand with men of their age.

The Muslim Brotherhood didn't accept this kind of veil as very Islamic.

The women's page on the movement's website said: "A Muslim woman should hide all her body - except for the face and hands - with a cover that is not transparent, that doesn't reveal the shape and doesn't resemble male outfits."

- AFP