Keen to make brotherhood more inclusive with that special female touch, Brett tips his hat to a new age of sisterhood for Egypt. Could Bothaina Kamel be the next leader of the Women's Spring?
Attention, Boyz in the Hood---Brotherhood that is! The ladies of Egypt have something to say, and it can be best summarized by saying, “We ain’t going out like dat!” They did not put their lives on hold and on the line for this Arab Spring, only to be marginalized, shoved back in the kitchen to make magloobe for your men’s club! Heck no! They are marching in the streets, saying ‘Give us a voice or make your own darn breakfast!’
Getting sisters in the gang is not going to be easy. The Muslim Brotherhood now controls almost half the parliament and their dislike of women in leadership is already rearing its ugly, bearded head. The Jordan Times says, “Female representation in parliament fell from 12 per cent to just 2 per cent since Mubarak's fall”.
Even the one remaining assembly the ladies could call their own, the National Council for Women, is under threat of being changed from mothers to brothers. These hairy politicians want to be included and make it a Family Council- which probably means replacing the Ladies room with a Hookah bar and switching the “Women’s Issues” committee with the “Issues We Have With Women” all male committee.
But in the channeled spirit of Queen Nefertiti, here comes Egypt’s very own Oprah walking down Tahrir square, uncovered and juxtaposed to the current system.
Let’s hear it for Bothaina Kamel, a female TV anchor and activist running for president of Egypt as an Independent. This courageous woman is the consummate David to the Goliath Brothers.
Or is she? Almost every Egyptian knows the name Bothaina from her 90’s phone-in TV show Nightime Confessions where callers confessed to all sort of taboo topics. Since then she has continued to buck the establishment by exposing what IS as opposed to the facade of what never could be.
She is campaigning on a platform of inclusion, diversity and reform and she has the bling to prove it. Ms. Kamel religiously wears a necklace with a crescent moon and a cross on it, to enforce this idea: “I want to market that Egyptians are the children of God. We're not just Islamic or Christians. I am enforcing the idea that we're all one."
Much to the delight of the Copts and other minorities, this Muslim woman believes the Qur’an speaks against an Islamic , Sharia based government. In light of all of this, her chances are very slim (she’s openly going against the Hoodwinks and their Posse) even though her agenda is almost exactly what the Arab Spring was based upon.
All of this is not to say that the other candidates are not striving for this equality as well or that the Brotherhood is anti-women or any other obligatory statement I can make to not sound too biased.
Nevertheless, the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. Both Coptic and Muslim ladies, some even covered and veiled, are rising up and saying, “This pudding is lousy!”. It is clear that the present government is too bland. Egyptian women need to be represented and to co-lead in this new government because really, what is Cairo without her queens and sisters? It’s just another Brotherhood.
By Brett Weer
