Dina Abou El Soud
“I know that revolutions don’t come in just one day. So, we cannot say if it’s failed or not yet because we are still in it.” Dina Abou El Soud is a Cairo hostel owner and women’s rights activist. She is the founder of the Egyptian Revolutionary Women Coalition. |
Dina describes the difficulties of being a female business owner in a patriarchal society. She talks about how women participated in the revolution and how the uprising transformed her life. Dina shares her ideas about changing the mentalities of Egyptians. Web site: http://www.dinashostel.com Blog: http://dinashostel.wordpress.com Twitter: @DinasHostel |
INTERVIEW
Interviewed in English in Cairo in April 2012 by Tatiana Philiptchenko.
Q: When did you start being active in Tahrir Square and why? I started being active on Facebook and share things following the death of Khaled Said (the young Egyptian killed by Police officers in Alexandria on June 6, 2010). I started being quite active and sharing things on Facebook. Then, I was following the silent revolution. So when I took taxis I will talk with the drivers who didn’t know much about what was really happening in the country and on the Internet. So the taxi drivers became my messengers, I will pass the message to others through them about what really happened to Khaled Said. I started going to Tahrir Square on January 28, 2011. This is when I started going on the street protesting and being an activist. I was trying to learn more things and move forward. Before, I was too busy with my professional life. But all my life I have been fighting the patriarchal system. I have been trying to break stereotypes (Dina refers here to her previous work as a tour guide and her current work as a hostel owner) Q: Where were you on February 11,2011, when it was announced that Mubarak had left? I was at the hostel in downtown Cairo, when it was announced on TV that Mubarak was gone. The previous day was very sad & depressing because he announced that he wouldn’t leave. Some young men were crying in Tahrir. It was just too sad for me so I went back to the hostel. Here at the hostel, we knew that Mubarak would make another announcement but Omar Suleiman made an announcement instead of Mubarak and said Mubarak was leaving. We ran to Tahrir Square. It was shocking for me. I couldn’t believe that he left. I didn’t react at all at first. It was too good to be true. Q: More than a year later, do you feel the women are benefiting from the revolution? I don’t think the women are really benefiting from the revolution. In parliament the women quota got cancelled. And all the good women laws, they are talking that it is Suzanne Mubarak laws and that they need to be cancelled. The only thing is that NGO and women groups are starting to form something together. They start now to have different coalition groups for women. Q: What is the impact of the revolution on your life? The revolution made my life more busy (smile). The revolution made me involved in politics. Before I was not involved in politics. I had some friends that were involved in politics but I was not; I thought this was their job and mine is running my business. I used to work all the time and run the hostel. After the revolution and uprising I am now totally involved with this. The women’s rights issue is my issue too. After the women being in Tahrir Square some people wanted to push the women away. It was really annoying. After the revolution: everyone wanted to say: «I did the Revolution» - everyone wanted to take the credit for the revolution. Since some women didn’t represent a party, they were refused because they didn’t represent a group for example. Many women wanted to be part of the Youth Coalition but the ones running the coalition didn’t want to share the limelight with them. After all this, me and two other friends decided to form a young female coalition around February 14, 2011. Many people were criticizing us: saying that we were separating from the others, and asking us why? It was because we didn’t have a place in the original coalition. But after a while everyone became busy with many things so it kind of felt apart. But I still took it seriously but didn’t really know what to do now. Eventually, I formed my own women group that tries to achieve the following: influence many women’s group to reform, influence women NGO’s to have now in their agenda some political awareness programs for women (which was never the case before). (continued on the right) |
Q: What is the main goal of your group? Women empowerment. Political participation for women and in general all kinds of empowerment for women. We want to change our culture in a positive way. We have the sexual harassment problem for example. We want to change how women are perceived. Q: Do you think women will have more rights or less rights in the future in Egypt? Am not sure. We don’t know where the country is going. If the Islamists take over, women’s rights and human rights will go back and we might become like Sudan or Iran. If us Egyptians can manage to work all together and put Egypt on the right path it won’t take too much time to become a good country. In Egypt, there are Islamists but not that much of them. In my opinion, our main problem is the economy. This is what actually put the Islamists in power. People think that if they put in power someone who will not steal it will be good. (In reference that Mubarak and ex-regime top officials were robbing the country). But one group of people had everything and others had nothing. But I think that this is not the only thing to consider. But now that the Islamists are in parliament, many people will be disenchanted with Islamists. Q: In your view what are the factors that are contributing in slowing the development of women in Egypt? I think the main component is the mentality of the people more even than the laws. And this is a cultural problem. Example: even when a woman is harassed, in our country: it is her fault. People will be asking why was this woman out, what was she wearing. So even when the woman is a victim she is blamed. So the mentality is a huge problem. I think this is very bad. Most people will choose a man versus a woman as a candidate for example. We have just celebrated Egyptian’s woman’s day. (My group had organized this event) and now media are talking about it which is quite positive. Our target is the young kids, to change their views about women. They are the future of our country. We need to start working with the young people now, change their stereotypes before it is too late. I am going to a governmental university now (studying there), and I am realizing that the young people with me don’t know much and think backwards. Many young people don’t have Internet access and don’t have the money for it. And they don’t know either how to use Internet for research. Q: How bad or good the situation of Egyptian women is now? It is very bad. The women gained nothing. They might have actually lost things with the revolution. Q: The parties in power are they ready to give women an important role in politics, ecomics and academia? Here in Egypt, men think if they give more rights to women: they are taking rights away from men. Equality means for our society: taking rights away from men. Lack of opportunities for everyone is making men crazy. Example: man think if the woman is working she will take their job away. Our main problem here in Egypt is the economy with the Islam, with the religion, women, with everything. The economy is playing a big role with what we are suffering from. Q: Your are breaking many stereotypes yourself, how do people respond to it? Now, that I am a manager, people respond in an OK way. But before, it was very hard. I had to change my personality and make my personality harder just to make people do what I needed them to do. Q: Many people say the Egyptian revolution is a failed revolution, what do you think about that? Am not someone who is very well read but it’s been just one year and I know that revolutions don’t come in just one day. So, we cannot say if it’s failed or not yet because we are still in it. |
