Translated from Arabic

PERMANENT MISSION OF THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT TO
THE UNITED NATIONS

               17 September 1996

     The Egyptian Government has the honour to inform you that
the Second National Conference on Egyptian Women was organized
in Cairo in April 1996 by the National Commission for Women
(chaired by the wife of the President of the Republic) in
coordination with the National Council for Childhood and
Motherhood. The participants in the Conference concentrated
their efforts on the task of formulating policies for the
advancement of women and social development in the context of
the preparation of the fourth five-year plan for economic and
social development (1997-2002). The Conference adopted a number
of recommendations, the most important of which were the
following:

     1. A review of all legislation relating to women with a
view to correcting any lacunae and eliminating any conflicting
provisions, to be conducted in cooperation with the National
Commission for Women.

     2. The formulation of adequate guarantees in respect of
the implementation of existing laws.

     3 The development of appropriate means of making women
aware of their legal rights.

     4. Action to ensure participation by women in all projects
and programmes contained in the prospective fourth five-year
plan in order to translate into practice the principle of
effective participation by women in all areas of public life.

     5. Development of methods and programmes aimed at
conferring greater political effectiveness on women and
enabling them to exercise their political rights to the full.

     6. Development of practical policies for the effective
participation of women in efforts to deal with the problems of
the population explosion, environmental degradation, drug
addiction, fanaticism and terrorism, since women, by virtue of
the roles they are called upon to play, are well placed to take
action that will help Egyptian society overcome these serious
problems.

     7. The application of appropriate measures to enable women
to participate in economic development and attain full
employment, making them effective in raising the productivity
of Egyptian society in full integration with men in all fields
and activities, with a view to helping society overcome the
problems arising from global economic competition in the
twenty-first century.

     8. Appropriate action to enhance the situation of women
with respect to education, culture, health and social status in
the context of the full, integrated development of their
abilities, with a view to raising the level of their
accomplishments and their contribution to the work of social
advancement.

     The Council of Ministers intends to study these proposals
in order to translate them into programmes and projects that
will be implemented in the context of the State's five-year
development plan, with a view to attaining the following
objectives:

     1. Greater educational opportunities for Egyptian girls,
including higher school admittance rates for girls than for
boys, as compensation for the past disadvantageous position of
women in that respect, especially in the area of basic
education. Accordingly, under the prospective five-year plan,
funding will be provided for the construction of new schools
and single-class schools expressly designed for the education
of girls who have not had an opportunity of attending primary
school. The plan will also make provision for kindergarten
facilities for all children, and will devote particular
attention to the issue of educational opportunities for
children with special needs, including both gifted children and
children with disabilities of various kinds.

     2. Continued implementation and expansion of programmes
designed to eradicate illiteracy among women, to compensate
them for their past disadvantage in the area of educational
opportunity and to eliminate the yawning gap between male and
female illiteracy rates, and the concurrent development of
various programmes designed to eliminate women's educational
handicaps, whether school related or of economic, social or
cultural origin. The ultimate result will be that Egypt will
finally succeed in providing education for all its people
children and adults, women and men - and this will be reflected
in progress in all areas of society.

     3. Action to ensure that all school programmes include
information about women's rights and duties. The aim of this is
to produce a new generation of men and women who will be aware
of women's true place in society and the importance of
cooperation between them and men in our common striving to
attain the goals of the Egyptian people. Concurrently, effort
will be made to enhance the image of women as presented in all
school programmes with a view to making that image what it
should be in the light of our heritage, our fundamental values,
and our aspirations for the future.

     4. Action to raise women's cultural awareness with a view
to promoting their understanding of their rights and duties and
enabling them to benefit as soon as possible from economic and
social programmes designed to foster their growth and
development, prepare them to play a meaningful role in the life
of Egyptian society, and help them eliminate all barriers to
their effective participation in the development of the culture
in which they live.

     5. Action to upgrade women's health by giving priority to
disease-prevention programmes targeting both women themselves
and their families, boys and girls alike, and by providing the
full range of health care required by women in successive
stages of their lives as girls wives and mothers.

     6. Action to enhance the social status of women through
programmes aimed at promoting their participation in our common
striving for the advancement of 


all aspects of society. In the implementation of such
programmes, priority will be given to remote villages and
hamlets where women are in greater need of benefits and
services.

     7. Implementation of all these programmes and projects
through constructive cooperation and effective action on the
part of government departments and agencies and People's
Assemblies, and through effective participation by women
themselves. 


    	

Date last updated: 08 May 2000 by DESA/DAW
Copyright © 1999 United Nations