women-authors-from-egypt

"We are obliged to work with varied representatives of different religious organizations and communities on addressing a multiplicity of human development needs. And we have to maintain the same respect and appreciation for the respective strengths and modus operandi of each partner, as long as there is agreement on the basic goals of human development, that is, human rights, peace, and security for all."

"Our planet is facing an existential crisis, and we need to ensure that all religious institutions around the world, which together target 80 per cent of the world’s people, can be active in saving this planet."

"I took that job in hopes of serving the region that had nurtured me and taught me so much, and at the same time, to do it from a perspective where I was also serving another dimension, which is the UN system."

"Religion and faith do not lend themselves to the usual normative frameworks of development praxis, which means that engagement with religious communities has to be sustainable, built upon common goals, and mainstreamed into broader civil society and government partnerships. This is critical to establishing and maintaining the trust that is required for any such engagement, and for facilitating the co-ownership of national development processes among all the different partners involved."

"It is seriously myopic to assume that the Muslim Brotherhood is “anti-women.” I first started studying the Brotherhood, as part of a range of Islamist formations around the world, back in the late 1980s. Even within the organization itself, there are diverse perspectives on women’s rights: there are extremely active, very well-educated, cultured, and articulate women members of the Brotherhood, just as there are some members who are deeply conservative when it comes to women’s roles in public."

"On February 11, 2011, I was born again as a proud Masriyya—Egyptian—deeply humbled by those ten or twenty years younger than I, but a thousand years more courageous. I kissed my computer screen—the very same one that had just suffered the indignity of having a shoe hurled at it—when Al Jazeera aired the announcement and displayed the unadulterated joy of Egyptians at Mubarak’s resignation."

"I came to appreciate religion as a very important segment of our lives, and to appreciate that we should not see religion only as a political motor or with the lens of stereotypes."

"...I did not feel as if I was estranged from the region in any way, shape or form. But I was aware that my parents, and especially my father, were disappointed that I was not serving the region more directly. He wanted me to be closer to the family and to try to do something more directly in the region."

"The revolution is proceeding with the hiccups associated with any comprehensive transformation entailing the political, social, economic, and legal overhaul of an entire country. Is the"

"The world of religion is vast and difficult for us to quantify and categorize into neatly distinct entities."

"Anyone who has studied Arab societies in the last thirty years will attest to how socially active, politically informed, and economically engaged women have been."

"Arab women have made it clear they are perfectly capable of activism and of articulating their own needs and aspirations. If and when these women need the assistance of “people in the West,” they will let that be known in no uncertain terms. After listening, the “people in the West” can then decide whether and how best to respond. And it would be wise to do so in consultation with the same women who made the request."

"The journey of these different revolutions is, for everyone concerned, a process of acquiring wisdom, and I believe strongly that we have little to lose and a great deal to gain."

"This generation is growing up at a time when even what it is to be a man or a woman is being radically redefined."

"... in the West we tend to see only the Islamic vantage point, but the religious politics overall was very intense; it was Islamic, and Christian, and Jewish."

"There is a mental, social, economic, and political transformation and a revolution to undertake; we don’t have time to waste. It is the same logic that you heard and saw in other liberation movements, but this time it was being employed, lo and behold, by the religious political groups."

"My husband, who was also serving as the career advisor for students in the university, came across an advertisement by WCRP. The advertisement was very cleverly crafted and spoke directly to who I am. It appeared to require simultaneous knowledge of gender and religion and international relations and politics. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I applied and was selected. That’s how I came to WCRP.."

"We had a phenomenal, powerful opportunity to learn from each other across so many different divides, and realize that there was a vision that united them and a shared mission, regardless of their religions."

"There has been a gap, not only in research and knowledge, but in terms of our own responsibility as researchers, in trying to understand the women who themselves fight. The ones who are the guerrillas; the ones who are the strategists and the planners; and the ones who blow themselves up."

"there are the grimy realities of entrenched, interest-based politics; an economy struggling to recover from being on hold while the revolution was taking place, in a global financial environment that is itself struggling to stand on its feet; and a legal system that needs to be overhauled—all while maintaining security and stability in a region being christened, by fire, into freedom."

"Secularism comes in many shades and varieties, but it has never manifested—not even here in the United States—in the manner of a total repudiation of religion."

"Today, there are over 500 member organizations, with a legacy of partnering not only with UNFPA but also with several of its UN sister agencies on a range of development issues."

"it is virtually impossible to embark on any issue relating to sexuality, women’s rights, and gender relations without coming across particular cultural dynamics."

"...contrary to popular (and largely ethnocentric) beliefs, the revolution could happen only because women’s roles in Egyptian society—and Arab societies as a whole—have already been undergoing a sea change."

"The magnitude, scope, and diversity of their participation in the revolution is itself a testament to how intrinsic to the social, economic, legal, and political fabric they already are—and have been."

"What is now transpiring with women’s rights in Egypt—and elsewhere in the Arab region—is a continuation of the struggle for gender equality within the emerging political framework, which is part and parcel of the larger effort to safeguard all human rights in the new polity that is now being collectively fashioned."

"Any conversation touches on the political context and what’s going on. When you live in a context where one cousin and a best friend and the brother of the neighbors and many people are being incarcerated for no obvious reason apart from the fact that they look suspicious, it becomes part of what you want to know and understand."

"Bear in mind that revolutions are happening within almost every group, party, and institution in Egypt today: the army, political parties, universities, professional associations, media, NGOs—you name it."

"We are living in the context of a generation of youth—which is over 60% of our populations—that has grown up as part of a global youth culture equipped with mass communication technologies and amid huge challenges to established powers."

"...who would have thought the Soviet Union would collapse; or that religion would re-emerge so strongly after decades of attempts to keep it out of politics; or that a woman and former guerilla fighter would be elected president of the largest Latin American country, and a black man would be elected as president of a country that once went to war with itself?"

"The trend towards politicization was all around us and is still there today. No single event triggered my awareness. It was normal, the blood running through your veins, part of your average conversation around the dinner table, and we have plenty of those, because we’re always convening around meals."

"The 1980s was a very intense period for the Arab world in terms of the growth of religious politics. There was a strong politicization of religion throughout the Arab region and the Middle East in general. Thinking back, I realize that while we only focused on the Islamic political domain, plenty was going on within the Christian communities also across the region, though frankly that has not been well studied."

"Exploring this field of human rights was far from easy, and my interest in the links to religion was even more difficult. The religious groups were, putting it mildly, not the most accepted by the governments. A lot of my work involved coming sitting through many discussions in meetings of men, and of men and women, and of women. I listened to many debates and discussions, and many tried to get me to see their point of view."

"...the gender dividing line was not necessarily that clear at all times. In fact it is far less clear in these groups what women should or should not do. In the secular world, that dividing line seemed a lot clearer."

"After about two years in this fascinating and dynamic environment, I realized that I did not want to be teaching only. I missed the actual work—working 24 hours a day on cases and situations and peoples’ lives. I suddenly found myself in a very academic context, torn between a university which was very English-dominated, in a country which was struggling to find its own voice—Northern Ireland."

"The experience taught me that I did not want to end up just yet as a professor. I needed to continue active engagement. I was restless, even a bit impatient, constantly saying that with so many different aspects of me, by doing only one thing I felt I was missing out on the rest of me."

"The inspiration came from an amazing woman, Dr. Constance Buchanan, who headed the culture section at the Ford Foundation at the time. It was Constance who said to Bill Vendley (secretary-general of WCRP), “You’re doing plenty of excellent work with men."

"I came to WCRP because I believed in the importance of investing in women. I have distinct memories of the many women of faith I’ve met in these different movements in the Arab region and Africa. They have had a powerful impact on me. They are incredibly strong and capable and wonderful and amazing."

"You don’t really become politicized by a certain event; you grow up politicized."

"Talking to UNFPA staff and hearing about Thoraya’s vision, I came to realize that she was one of the most incredible articulators of what is in my heart. She has power as an under-secretary-general of the United Nations. There was an under-secretary-general who understood religion, who believes that religion is an integral part of culture, is what is going to make the world change. That was firmly and fundamentally my belief, too. I took what I saw as an extraordinary opportunity."

"...in terms of the general women’s movement, are finding it very difficult to deal with these women and with the notion of what they do and what they bring to the table, if they ever get to it. Unless we crack this and understand and appreciate it, we’re going to be doing the same old mythologizing of women as the answer. It keeps us in a rut, because we’re not moving beyond that."

"The interpretations of religions that are so focused on controlling women have plenty to do with this fear of women’s anger. We are venturing into a terrain that is psychologically, socially, politically, and personally incredibly difficult. And that’s why we don’t go there. But if we don’t go there, we are simply regurgitating the same old thing."

"I was afraid for the safety of the youth demonstrating so courageously, creatively, and with so much passion. I was afraid for the millions left in the clutches of a government that deliberately instigated instability for the first four days of demonstrations."

"...the enormity of the transformation does not require one’s physical presence within the national boundaries to be appreciated. The Arab awakening in the neighboring countries is itself an indication that the change that has taken place is very much ongoing, and that it is reshaping the identity of the entire region."

"Religion, as an ingredient of culture, has always been part of the business of human development. In the last decade or so, especially after the events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent reconfiguration of geopolitical dynamics, discussions about religion have begun to occupy a more prominent role in the discourse within and among the various UN agencies."

"The United Nations system today is more aware of the fact that religious communities, and their affiliated organizational entities, are some of the oldest, most deeply rooted, and furthest reaching social welfare networks and providers known to humanity. They are increasingly recognized as part of the partnerships for development at the United Nations."

"My early studies and work brought me very much within the sphere and domain of religious groups, particularly Islamic ones, but my perceptions and understanding started from my family and my university experience. So my interest, and the reason that I became involved in these topics, stem from a very personal and professional place."

"Religious concerns, positions, and services vary significantly according to the religion itself, as well as per country, region, and situation. Issues of reproductive health vary enormously."

"If there is one lesson we keep learning from history, and that has been highlighted of late by the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, is that people change their own cultures from within all the time."

"We are living in a global context where freedoms, all freedoms, but especially the freedom of thought, religion and belief, are seriously under attack. If religious leaders are not part and parcel of protecting these freedoms for all people of all faiths all over the world, then who is or will be?"