Head of the Egyptian Front for the Struggle against Domineering Women Mursi Nuweishi: Egyptian Women Have More Rights Than They Should

Following are excerpts from an interview with Mursi Nuweishi, general coordinator of the Egyptian Front for the Struggle against Domineering Women, which aired on Al-Mihwar TV on September 9, 2007.

Interviewer: What is the front?

[...]

Mursi Nuweishi: There is a misuse of the rights [of women]. This misuse is detrimental to the women themselves and to their interests.

Interviewer: Before we talk about this misuse, what drove you to form this front of yours now, and how would you characterize it?

Mursi Nuweishi: We realized that there is a misuse of [women's] rights.

Interviewer: So what did you do?

Mursi Nuweishi: The Egyptian women – my mother, my sister, my daughter, my wife – have more freedom than they should have. They demanded their rights, and received very many rights, including the recent ruling that they can become judges. So we men want to demand our rights too, because we feel that our rights have been neglected.

Interviewer: So you established the front.

Mursi Nuweishi: Yes.

Interviewer: How many members do you have?

Mursi Nuweishi: We have about 250-300 activists – these are people who convene, and so on.

Interviewer: I expect they are all men.

Mursi Nuweishi: 60% of the members are women.

Interviewer: There are women in the Front for the Struggle against Domineering Women?

Mursi Nuweishi: One of them decided, just today, to form an association [of women] in support of men. She is, incidentally, a senior official in the Foreign Ministry, and the wife of one of the senior ambassadors.

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Mursi Nuweishi: In the third millennium, female discourse has become inciting and very violent.

Interviewer: Inciting?

Mursi Nuweishi: Of course. This discourse is led by a group of women. I cannot even say that they represent the Egyptian woman. Unfortunately, some TV channels have welcomed them, and let them talk and tell lots of stories. Two or three days ago, I was sitting in front of the TV, watching a show hosted by Mufid Fawzi. This was on one of the TV channels. He was hosting an author who is a respectable woman.

Interviewer: We respect all people and their views.

Mursi Nuweishi: She was saying that Egyptian society must undergo a powerful jolt, and that this society must undergo this jolt...

Interviewer: What for?

Mursi Nuweishi: Because she thinks that there is a flaw in the relationship between men and women. I was surprised by a very peculiar thing she said. She said: "Do you know, Mufid, that there are real scientific studies that show that the sexual prowess of women is ten times better than that of men?"

Interviewer: What does that have to do with...

Mursi Nuweishi: I don't know what this has to do with anything. My son, who is a lawyer, asked me what this meant. I was so embarrassed that I fled to the bathroom. I ran away. When I came out of the bathroom, my son continued to ask me. Finally, I said: "Son, to be honest, I don't know what it means."

Interviewer: Do you object to the question or to the way it was presented?

Mursi Nuweishi: I object to the way it was presented, because this is a plan to introduce an organization...

Interviewer: What organization?

Mursi Nuweishi: ...to introduce an organization intended to destroy Egyptian society. Nobody can conquer us militarily, and nobody can harm us economically, but they have found a way to harm us.

Interviewer: You're saying that they are targeting the Egyptian family.

Mursi Nuweishi: Yes.

Interviewer: So you say that there are actual attempts to destroy the family through this change the Egyptian woman has undergone?

Mursi Nuweishi: We have documents to prove it.

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Mursi Nuweishi: Take, for example, the collapse of a superpower. Are we as strong as the former USSR? Bear with me, please.

Interviewer: No, we aren't as strong as...

Mursi Nuweishi: We are not as strong militarily and so on. In the 1980's, when I was living in the USSR, the Americans began to introduce the culture of jeans and chewing-gum. They began to introduce the culture...They were preparing society for its downfall, and then along came Gorbachev in the late 1980's, and a superpower came to its end.

[...]

Mursi Nuweishi: We are fighting with all our strength and in all possible ways the attempts to Westernize the Egyptian family by means of inciting discourse directed toward women.