Days of Democracy

This documentary is a set of interviews with women running for Egypt’s Parliament in November of 1995. After a review of recent political history (from 1920 to the institution of women’s suffrage in 1956, the election of two women to Parliament in 1957, the increase to 35 female MPs in 1984, and the fall to 10 in 1990), about 20 candidates talk to the camera: incumbents and newcomers; women from the ruling NDP party, from minor parties and independents. This is retail politics: meeting voters in small groups, holding store-front rallies. The candidates have feminist views, and they also champion clean water, better jobs, rebuilding housing after an earthquake, and fair, honest elections.