resembles the outcome of previous nation-wide popular protests in colonial and post-colonial times (e.g., Algeria). Yet, despite post-revolutionary conservative backlash, harsh verbal and physical attacks, the women’s rights activists, some of them only recently mobilized, have not give up their fight against discriminatory practices but asserted their claims. As a result, the transitory phase has witnessed an unprecedented emergence of numerous grassroots initiatives and new civil organizations advocating gender equality. How to assess and to classify the mushrooming of women’s rights defenders groups remains a distinctly controversial subject. Optimists argue that the change that has started since the 2011 mass protests cannot be reversed; the great majority of those who felt empowerment and agency during the uprisings will not be silenced anymore. Pessimists underline the ‘hijacking of the revolution’ by better organized parties as well as by long established associations and speak of women as the great losers of the revolutionary events. Other analysts who regard the mass protests as a social movement point out that in the long run the surfacing of an outspoken broadly-based civil society is a positive sign; and, in the short run, it is noticeable that a huge number of outspoken women’s rights activists, female and male alike, continue their struggle for gender equality despite (current) setbacks and disappointments. This contribution will focus on Egypt because it has one of the longest and most varied feminist traditions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Though Egyptian women’s status has improved through decades of struggle and toil, it is no secret that the patriarchal structure of the Egyptian state, law and culture has been left mainly intact. The January (2011) revolution’ generated immense hopes for a better future with greater ‘25th gender equality but it soon became obvious that even the achievements of past years were under threat. The quota system, adopted in 2010, which gave women 12% seats of the People’s assembly for the first time, was removed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) directly after the in the last parliamentary elections parties had to ‘revolution’;
resembles the outcome of previous nation-wide popular protests in colonial and post-colonial times (e.g., Algeria). Yet, despite post-revolutionary conservative backlash, harsh verbal and physical attacks, the women’s rights activists, some of them only recently mobilized, have not give up their fight against discriminatory practices but asserted their claims. As a result, the transitory phase has witnessed an unprecedented emergence of numerous grassroots initiatives and new civil organizations advocating gender equality. How to assess and to classify the mushrooming of women’s rights defenders groups remains a distinctly controversial subject. Optimists argue that the change that has started since the 2011 mass protests cannot be reversed; the great majority of those who felt empowerment and agency during the uprisings will not be silenced anymore. Pessimists underline the ‘hijacking of the revolution’ by better organized parties as well as by long established associations and speak of women as the great losers of the revolutionary events. Other analysts who regard the mass protests as a social movement point out that in the long run the surfacing of an outspoken broadly-based civil society is a positive sign; and, in the short run, it is noticeable that a huge number of outspoken women’s rights activists, female and male alike, continue their struggle for gender equality despite (current) setbacks and disappointments. This contribution will focus on Egypt because it has one of the longest and most varied feminist traditions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Though Egyptian women’s status has improved through decades of struggle and toil, it is no secret that the patriarchal structure of the Egyptian state, law and culture has been left mainly intact. The ‘25th January (2011) revolution’ generated immense hopes for a better future with greater gender equality but it soon became obvious that even the achievements of past years were under threat. The quota system, adopted in 2010, which gave women 12% seats of the People’s assembly for the first time, was removed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) directly after the ‘revolution’; in the last parliamentary elections parties had to
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