Gendering Egypt’s January 2011 Revolution: the state, feminism, and competing for the Egyptian nation

Abstract

This thesis highlights the fact that the Egyptian state has competed and continues to compete against political forces opposed to their rule, and that this contestation over the framing and image of the Egyptian nation is constructed along, among other things, gendered contours. Specifically, that the nation is often imagined and identified by both the Egyptian state and opposing political forces by defining expectations and roles of Egyptian masculinity and femininity, and those failing to uphold such standards find themselves excluded, or worse, targeted. These competing political forces include the Egyptian state, namely the office of the presidency under both Hosni Mubarak and Abdel Fattah el Sisi, and all those under their jurisdiction, such as the police and the armed forces. In light of this, this thesis emphasises that any understanding of the way in which the January 2011 Egyptian Revolution and its aftermath was contested, must come with an understanding of the importance of gender performativity and expectations in Egypt, as these are continuously evoked within the political struggle. At the heart of this, the thesis underscores the consequent challenges and objectives the Egyptian women’s rights movement have faced as a result of the ongoing political turbulence in Egypt, and the consequences for them of a gendered discourse being used by political factions.