“Women have always struggled through many fights to obtain different gains in different political, social, cultural and other fields, and they have done that via diverse tools that varied over the course of several years”.

Yesterday on 16 March 2018, “Free Wave” Campaign ended, which adopted the slogan: One Movement, Colorful Waves, after it was conducted over a period of 9 days, through which it aimed to shed light on the evolution of discourse and tools of the feminist movement since 2011.

The campaign commenced where its first activity was a meeting at the French Institute in Mounira, where a historical review of the different waves of the feminist movement was provided by Dr. Hala Kamal, Associate Professor of Gender Studies in the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University, and one of the co-founders of the Women and Memory Forum in Cairo. Ms. Mozn Hassan, the Founder and Executive Director of Nazra for Feminist Studies facilitated the meeting, which included a number of young feminist groups and initiatives, whose representatives spoke about the future of the feminist movement in Egypt through their perceptions of the most significant challenges they faced since 2011 until now.

The campaign also focused on shedding light on the issue of sexual violence against women in the public sphere by publishing a number of testimonies: 30 June 2013… from Intervention into the Whirlwheel and its Exit, Violence has Societal Faces: Testimony of a Woman Experiencing Violence by Citizens in Egypt, My Freedom between Spying and Confinement at Home - Testimony of a University Student. In addition, a paper entitled: “A Reading into the Political and Societal Changes in Egypt between 2011 - 2018: Women’s Bodies between Mobilization and Violation” was published.

Moreover, a group of the campaign’s visual designs showed Glimpses of Combating Sexual Violence, focusing on the significant presence of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) via a video entitled: WHRDs from the Heart of the Movement, which showcases the struggle of a number of WHRDs from diverse backgrounds in different contexts during the last 7 years, to prioritize women’s rights in the state’s agenda, and assert women’s right to a safe public sphere, and their work on providing creative solutions to support and protect survivors from sexual violence. And over a period of 9 days, quotes for WHRDs were published daily.

And in an attempt to analyze women’s presence in some of the decision-making positions such as parliament, ministries, national councils, agencies, and some syndicates since the beginning of the 25th of January revolution in 2011 until today, we have published visual designs entitled “Women and Leadership Positions in Egypt’’.

The campaign concluded its final day with a video entitled ‘’Young Feminist Groups Break Centralization and Start New Mobilization’’.

Finally, we emphasize that women’s struggles throughout the past three waves are a reference and an incentive for many of the feminists in the fourth wave that is still ongoing. These struggles will endure for a less violent and discriminatory future, and for a continuous movement and more waves to come.