Advocating for greater political participation: Feminisms in Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood

As a powerful opposition movement in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood has a large influence on politics and takes the stance that it speaks for the majority of Egyptians in upholding their cultural and religious values. This thesis will analyze both the push for greater participation and voice by women within the Muslim Brotherhood as well as examine the opposition by women in Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood as a movement. First, this thesis will discuss the political situation in Egypt before the February 2011 revolution and how the banned opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, fit into the political landscape. Secondly, the thesis will focus on the secular feminist movement in Egypt, its history and what issues the movement is engaged with now.;The next two chapters will explore the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic feminism in Egypt. The first part of this exploration will focus more specifically on women's participation within the Muslim Brotherhood and their demands for greater participation and leadership roles within the Brotherhood and Egyptian politics The following chapter will discuss Islamic feminism, the introduction of the term and the wide variety of opinions and positions it encompasses. The two movements of Islamic and secular feminism are many times seen in opposition to each other and the final chapter will discuss these divergences as well as causes the movements have in common.;This thesis finds that there are significant differences between the ideals of the Islamist and secular feminist movements but that they do have some overlapping causes and areas where they can work together. The most significant of these is in female literacy. Female Muslim scholars emphasize women's literacy in Arabic so that women have firsthand access to Islamic texts and Arabic literacy is key to the Islamic feminist movement. At the same time secular feminism has continuously focused on female education and literacy from the beginning of the movement in the late 1800s. Today women are asking for more influential roles within the Muslim Brotherhood and the feminist movement has focused on influencing the Muslim Brotherhood because of the significant role they play in Egyptian society.