Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Cairo, 10 September 1997
N°2

The First Lady of Egypt, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, opening a meeting on 10 September of 125 women parliamentarians from 84 countries, declared that promoting women in political life leads to a "more just and equitable society" as well as to "a consolidation of democracy".

The women parliamentarians were meeting on the eve of the 98th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the world organisation of parliaments, which is taking place at the invitation of the Egyptian Parliament in the Cairo International Conference Centre from 11 to 16 September 1997.

Through its work, Mrs Mubarak said, the IPU has helped women's rights become a "living reality" on the world agenda, adding that it was a "source of pride for me to meet lady MPs from all over the world".

However, Mrs Mubarak said, gender discrimination still exists to one degree or another in all countries, and that the key to overcoming it was in the hands of parliamentarians.

"The problem of gender discrimination is still a topic for the entire world" and "there is no 100-percent equality between women and men in any country," Mrs Mubarak said. "Your role as women parliamentarians, contacting people to know their hopes and aspirations," and "the new democracy in your countries", is the "path towards the future".

Mrs Mubarak noted that Egypt had a good record as far as women representation in government was concerned, citing that since 1963 women have occupied 25% of posts in the upper echelon of government and 17% of posts in the Egyptian diplomatic corps, and currently had 12 women ambassadors representing Egypt abroad.

According to IPU statistics released at the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians, on 1 September 1997, women occupied on average only 12.2% of parliamentary seats world-wide (12.5% in the Lower Houses and 10% in Upper Houses or Senates). The highest percentage was in Sweden (40.4%), and eight countries' parliaments had no women legislators (Comoros, Djibouti, Kiribati, Kuwait, Micronesia, Palau, Tonga, United Arab Emirates). Two percent of seats in Egypt's parliament were occupied by women.

Mrs Yousriya N. Loza, Member of the People's Assembly of Egypt, who chaired the meeting, told participants that the IPU's Meeting of Women Parliamentarians had become "an effective tool for promoting women's political vision, concerns and priorities".

"The key concept of IPU is that democracy remains incomplete as long as women remain poorly associated or not associated at all with the legislative and political decision-making process," Mrs Loza said.

She called on women parliamentarians to take more action to promote political awareness, and to generate interest among young women to become politically active and enter parliament.

The President of the IPU Council and Speaker of the Egyptian People's Assembly, Dr Ahmed Fathy Sorour, said that the IPU had become "one of the leading organisations with regard to the promotion of the status of women", not only in politics but in all fields.

"To better value women's talents and contribution to society, to develop dialogue between the two genders, to look for mutual understanding, to seek the good of society as a whole through improved sharing of responsibilities: I cannot think of any better ways to reach full-fledged democracy," he declared. "Democracy without a proper recognition and involvement of women is only partial democracy."

Dr Sorour noted that one of his major concerns at the IPU had been to draw up a Universal Declaration on Democracy, "embodying the visions of both men and women equally". He said the Declaration, which is expected to be adopted on September 16, could not have come about without the "crucial role" played by the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians in developing the IPU's thinking on democracy.

Dr Sorour welcomed the fact that the meeting was going to discuss the question of the impat of armed conflicts on women and children, which he said was a "matter of primary concern" in the Middle East. The results of the debate by the women parliamentarians on this topic as well as on the other item on their agenda, Women's access to Parliament and the impact of their presence on parliamentary proceedings and outcome, will be presented by Mrs Loza to the IPU Council when it meets in Cairo on September 16.

The Chairperson of the IPU's Co-ordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians, Mrs Faiza Kefi (Tunisia), expressed her conviction that progress on women rights was becoming real in her part of the world.

"We have every reason to look for an improvement in the status of women in the Arab world as we approach the end of the century."

She added, however, that "every country is in need of a strong will to achieve reality" as far as equal partnership is concerned between men and women.

Mrs Kefi recalled the successful specialised IPU conference in New Delhi, in February, on Towards Partnership Between Men and Women in Politics, and stressed the need not to lose sight of its main objective of 50% of female representation in all parliamentary organs -- "and not accept any less".

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact:
IPU Press Officer: Robin Newmann, Cairo International Conference Centre,
tel. (202) 2600094; fax (202) 2600076