CAIRO — Across the Arab region, efforts to advance equality between women and men have generated important legal and institutional gains. Yet the full realization of this principle is a multidimensional endeavor, one that extends into family life, workplaces, and communities, and into the values that shape each of these spheres. Advancing this work calls for ongoing reflection among diverse social actors, and for spaces in which they can think together about the roots of justice in their societies.
It was with this conviction that the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) recently opened the doors of its new Cairo Office, welcoming academics, human rights advocates, journalists, and civil society leaders to a reception marking the regional launch of In Full Partnership: Thirty Years of Women’s Advancement at the United Nations and Beyond, a publication gathering three decades of the BIC’s contributions to the global discourse on gender equality.
The Cairo Office—one of several regional Offices maintained by the BIC, alongside those in Addis Ababa, Brussels, Geneva, Jakarta, and New York—has been engaging with social actors across the Arab world on themes including coexistence and social cohesion, environmental stewardship, and the part that youth can play in social progress. The opening of the new premises of the Office now offers the region a new setting in which substantive conversations can unfold on a continuing basis.
“We hope this place becomes a home for dialogue, for shared thinking, for shared learning,” said Hatem El-Hady, the BIC’s representative in Cairo, in his remarks to guests. “We chose our first gathering to address what we believe is among the most foundational issues facing the region—whether sufficient opportunities exist for women to participate as true equals in all fields of human endeavor.”
Mr. El-Hady noted that In Full Partnership reflects a sustained process of learning, drawing on the experience of Bahá’í communities in over 100,000 localities worldwide, about how equality finds expression in laws as well as in individual mindsets, family dynamics, community life, and institutional practice. “The advancement of women is not a separate concern,” he said. “It is a prerequisite for the well-being and prosperity of society as a whole.”
Alongside the book, guests explored the BIC’s statement to the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, titled “Reconceptualizing Justice: Laying Foundations for a Gender-Equal World.” The statement calls for an expanded understanding of justice—one that extends beyond formal legal systems to encompass the values and social norms that shape daily life. “It is one thing to acknowledge a value such as justice in principle,” the statement observes. “It is quite another to embrace it wholeheartedly in one’s personal conduct, and more challenging still to refashion social norms and institutions in ways that give collective expression to it.”
This theme resonated with those gathered, among whom were representatives of diplomatic missions in Cairo, leaders of women’s rights organizations, as well as a gender studies researcher and other academics. Fatima Naoot, a prominent Egyptian author and columnist, spoke to the persistent gap between legal ideals and lived realities. “All constitutions are very beautiful,” Ms. Naoot reflected, “but on the ground, we find that social norms are stronger than legislation.”
Lobna Darwish, director of the women’s rights program at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, echoed the need for justice to become a practical reality. Access to justice, Ms. Darwish said, is essential for ensuring that laws and legislation “actually fulfill their role” in removing barriers facing women and enabling their full participation in society.
Speaking with the News Service after the event, Mr. El-Hady reflected on the significance of the gathering for the region. “The equality of women and men is a foundational principle upon which peaceful coexistence and social cohesion in any society can be realized,” he said. “We have learned that real progress requires not only new policies but new mindsets, new relationships, and new patterns of community life. We are here, and we are ready to learn shoulder to shoulder with anyone committed to this work.”
