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CAIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When 83-year-old Farida El Choubachy ran for parliament in Egypt last year, she did not expect to win, let alone become the first woman in 42 years to preside over its opening session.
Her speech to parliament on Tuesday made history in Egypt for a second reason - more than a quarter of its 596 members were women, after a record number of female lawmakers were elected in last year’s parliamentary polls.
“It was a historical moment. I never expected it, but it shows how the role of women in political and parliamentary life is being transformed,” El Choubachy, a well-known journalist and political writer, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
When 83-year-old Farida El Choubachy ran for parliament in Egypt last year, she did not expect to win, let alone become the first woman in 42 years to preside over its opening session.