Egyptian Rights Activist: Things Better Under Mubarak

Egyptian rights activist Dalia Ziada talks about why things were better for women under Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Women are 'an integral part of Egyptian society' though they are suffering the most from the economic crisis which is getting worse every day in Egypt, said in an interview with ANSAmed Dalia Ziada, a human rights activist, blogger and the director of the Ibn Khaldum Center for Democratic Studies. Ziada is in Marseille to attend the Forum promoted by the Anna Lindh Foundation.

'Over 30% of women are 'caring women' like widows or divorcees who are working to support their families', said the activist. 'They work at a time when men are having a hard time finding a proper job'.

In the past, said Ziada, poor women benefited from measures supporting their businesses, which were sponsored by Suzanne Mubarak, wife of the president who was toppled in the January 25 revolution. Now 'they have no one sponsoring them', she said.

The activist, who was awarded a prize in 2010 by the Anna Lindh Foundation, told ANSAmed that 'it is sad to say that the situation for women was much better during the Mubarak era'. 'It was not the best possible but it was still better than today because there was a state which supported women's rights', she noted. 'Suzanne Mubarak was a women's rights activist before being the president's wife and a staunch supporter of new laws in favour of women', continued the activist. 'Now we have a regime which is very hostile to women, an extremist regime of the Muslim Brotherhood which doesn't like women, least of all in public life and the economy'. The regime is so hostile, the activist noted, that it accuses women of 'causing men's unemployment' based on the conviction that if they stayed home their jobs would go to men. 'However it's a problem of qualifications', noted Ziada, which has nothing to do with being women or men.

The rest here.

The Egyptians had a clean slate after they ousted Mubarak. There were plenty of non-Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidates running for office, but they overwhelmingly voted for Mohammed Morsi. They had a choice. They are now suffering the consequences.