May. 18th, 2002

Distinguished Guests, Dear Friends
Let me begin by first congratulating the International Arab Women's Forum on the work they are doing to bring business women together to exchange knowledge, establish valuable contact, create economic ventures and achieve greater international understanding. Networking, building relationships and building bridges on a global scale are indeed the order of the day. I thank the chairman and members of the board for this opportunity to share some of my thoughts on the role of women in Egypt and the Arab World.

Our gathering here today, comes at a particularly critical and challenging time for the Arab world, the Middle East region and the entire world. The events and atrocities which are currently unfolding in the Middle East today have shocked us all and contuinue to shroud international relations with apprehension and growing pessimism. The unspeakable suffering inflicted upon innocent civilians, women and children in the Palestinian occupied territories over the past few weeks constitutes a flagrant breach of international law and human rights These events have compelled me to change the topic I originally intended to address and to focus our talk on the emerging and aspired role of Arab and Egyptian women in our increasingly complex and demanding reality.

It saddens us and confounds our hopes and expectations that the wenty-first Century should commence with a dark legacy of cross cultural intolerance, armed conflicts and war, that not only take a vast toll on human life, but also impedes social and human development and depletes world resources. In situations of war and military occupation, we have seen how the vulnerable and weaker segments of society- women and children - are to an alarming degree the primary victims and targets of these aggressions. This was not our hope for the new millennium, nor is it the world we would like our children and future gnerations to live in .

Our current disillusionment, however, should not lead us into greater pessimism and despair because I believe that mankind's dispositon for tolerance and peace outweighs the propensity for intolerance and war. It is possible and vital to dedicate and commit ourselves to avert violence at all levels, to resolve conflict through peaceful means and to forge attitudes of understanding, tolerance and active concern towards one another .

This is why there is a need today for a more positive and influential role for women in promoting the values of peace and tolerance in our societies. Women's capacity for leadeship must be utilised to the full and to the benefit of all in order to progress towards a culture of peace. Their historically limited participation in governance has led to a distortion of concepts and narrowing of processes. In such areas as conflict prevention, the promotion cross-cultural dialogue and the redressing of socio-economic injustice, women can be the source of innovative and much needed approaches to peace building.

Today, the call for women to transcend their traditional roles cannot longer be considered merely an issue of equality of human rights.It has become a requisite if we are to hold our societies together. Women bring to the cause of peace among people and nations distinctive experiences and perspective, Women's role in giving and sustaining life has provided them with skills and insights essential to peaceful human relations and social development. Women subscribe less readily than men to the myth of the efficacy of violence, and they can bring a new vision to a joint effort of moving towards peace.

Justice, development and peace are inextricably linked. There can be no lasting peace without development, and no sustainable development without full justice for all people. It is important to draw strength from cultural diversity and redefine the concept of security so that it can encompass economic, social, cultural and personal security.

I believe the keyword here is equality. It requires that we confront economic and social deprivation and move towards a more equal sharing of resources.Narrowing the gap between the haves and the have-nots is indispensable to addressing the root causes of violence within and among nations. Ensuring equality to educational access and opportunity between the sexes are also a prerequisites for achieving the changes of attitudes and mindsets on which a culture of peace depends. Today, I would like to explore with you some of the possibilities that we in the Arab World envisage for the merging region, and to emphasise the increasingly important role of women, and of organisations such as yours to our quest for a new society in this era of transformation.

To speak of our regional vision realistically, we know that the time has come to mobilise the talents and energies of all the members of our societies. Only in that way can we achieve sustainable and equitable econmic and political development. It is time for Arab women, side by side with men, to assume an effective and positive role in planning and implementing these vast developmental tasks, and in time play a more positive role in the international arena.

The historic First Arab Women's summit-that brought together first ladies and top women activists from 19 Arab countries in Cairo in November 2000- emerged from this understanding. The changing world scene, Arab women realised, required a new approach to old problems, and the rejection of crippling restrictions. The conference marked the culmination of a long series of steps Arab feminists have taken over the past decade- a new start for a genuine Arab women's movement, resulting from new circumstances and after two years of continous efforts, the Arab Women's Organisation, a specialised Arab League agency ,was born. It aims at advancing the status of Arab women by ensuring their effective participation in nation building, creating a better life for women throughout the Arab World.

But most of all, it is hoped that this organisation will help contribute to demystifying Arab women and reveal their contribution in many domains. The organisation of Arab women will seek to forge avenues of collaboration within and outside the Arab world. More than ever we need to reach out for each other as women to promote knowledge and awareness that allow for better understanding of our diverse ideas, values and beliefs. We want a new Middle East to pass on to our children that offers the promise of peace, develpment and stability.

In Egypt and the Arab World, there have traditionally been a number of barriers and challenges to the realisation of women's full potential and hence their maximum contribution to growth and develpment in our part of the world. These challenges include traditional gender inequalities that still deprive some girls from attaining basic education, significant adult female illiteracy, employment and corporate records of women that lag far behind that of men, particularly in management and decision-making positions and generally low political participation by women across the Arab region.

Today, globalisation, trade liberalisation, the digital divide and new technologies brought about by the information age have become formidable variables of enormous magnitude and complexity. They have profoundly changed the reality we live in and though they seemingly provide limitless opportunities, their revolutionary changes are likely to marginalize women even more. For example, in our fast paced dot com world, demands by employers for longer working hours at the expense of family time clearly put women at a disadvantage. And now the access and mastering technology has become a prerequisite to joining this new world order, aren't the poor and uneducated likely to face further exclusion? Those are questions that need to be addressed, not only in Egypt and the Arab world, but the world at large.

In Egypt, we have earnestly begun to address these challenges within our local reality and the broader global perspective. Traditionally, government policy and programmes have focused on providing for women's practical needs such as health care, education, literacy programmes, housing utilities and other basic services. Now there is a pressing need for long term thinking and planning for women's strategic needs.

This is a crucial step towards addressing gender gaps and empowerment of women as it ensures the alloction of state funds for key proiority interventions. As I have mentioned earlier, the current thrust is on the social, economic and political empowerment of women.

Social empowerment tackles issues such as gender roles and relations within the family, girl's education, health, literacy and the image of women in the media. By this I mean reflecting on how to :
* Empower women of all backgrounds and ages by means of increasing their confidence and self-esteem, and thus help them fulfil their potentials.
* Address gender biases and cultural barriers to women's advancement, particularly in traditional communities and sub-cultures.
* Review how various laws and decrees are affecting the welfare and well being of women and propose new laws to fulfil the best interests and aspirations of women.
* Promote a balance and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media. Economic empowerment looks at impediments to women's employment in the private sector, encouraging micro and small enterprises through the provision of credit, training and the encouragement of female entrepreneurship as well as poor femaleheaded households. This entails looking at how to :
* Increasing women's economic participation rates, while reducing discriminatory hiring practices and helping women reconcile their work and family responsibilities.
* Encouraging women to develop entrepreneurial spirit through facilitating increased access to credit and informaion and communication technology (ICT) and support them in competing in the global economy. Political empowerment addresses the issue of how to encourage women to become more vital and engaging them in decision-making. This in turn demands action to :
* Overcome the barriers to women's political participation by encouraging them to vote in public elections and provide support for female candidates in order to increase the number of women in public office and decision-making positions. Follow up on Egypt's implementation of international conventions and plans of action pertaining to women . These are profound challenges and concerns that constituted the rational for establishing Egypt's National Council for Women (NCW) in the year 2002.

Conclusion

As I conclude my talk today, I would like to stress once again on that the participation of women in power structures and their involvment in efforts for the prevention and resolution of conflicts has become imperative for world peace. As such, there is a need for increased presentation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions. Women also have an important role to play in advancing knowledge of world cultures and religions through incorporating the teaching of languages, history and socio-political thought of various civilizations concerned with building inter-cultural bridges and partnerships. Finally, channels for public participation must be made available for the voices of ordinary women to be heard all over the world.
Thank You