Still Some Democracy Promotion

Meeting Attempt: Tried to have meeting with Dr. Heba Raouf, Professor of Political Theory at Cairo University. Met her but she seems reluctant to have a discussion. So Riham told me a bit about her doctoral thesis (a transnational perspective on how Muslim women intellectuals have fought for rights within Islam) and her work as as an advisor for the Model U.S. Congress. The Congress gets funds from the U.S. Embassy and is entirely student run. Students get to meet two U.S. Congress persons (representing both U.S. political parties) at the U.S. ambassadors residence. One of the six female members of the Constituent Assembly, Manal Al-Tiby, resigned on Monday September 24 to protest “the dominance of political Islam over the assembly.” Riham said one of the main problems regarding women's rights is that they are associated with the old regime and called "Suzanne's laws." Popular Islam in Egypt doesn't see women as fit to hold political office and that hasn't changed.