Egyptian officer Rawya Ateya, in military dress, waves to her supporters during her 1957 electoral campaign. She was elected in her Cairo constituency, becoming one of the first two female members of parliament (alongside Amina Shukri) in Egypt and the Arab world.
Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt on 3 July 1957, having originally been scheduled for November 1956, but postponed due to the Suez Crisis.[1] They were the first elections since the 1952 revolution, which saw King Farouk overthrown, the Republic of Egypt established and the approval of a new constitution in a June 1956 referendum.
A new electoral law was approved on 10 March 1957, which required all candidates to be members of the National Union,[2] although nearly 50% of candidates were rejected by army officials for being "undesirable" or "unworthy".[1] They were also the first elections in Egypt in which women had the right to vote or stand for election.[3] Despite only six women contesting the election out of a total of over 2,000 candidates, and 70% of Egyptian men being against their presence in parliament,[4]Rawya Ateya and Amina Shukri were elected, becoming the first women parliamentarians in the Arab world.[3][5]
Following its election, the 350-member National Assembly was seated on 22 July.[6] However, it had little power, with its votes against government policy being ignored by President Gamal Abdel Nasser.[1] The Assembly was dissolved on 10 February 1958 following Egypt and Syria merging to form of the United Arab Republic, and the establishment of a joint National Assembly with 400 members from Egypt and 200 from Syria.[6]
^Magdi, Ne'maat (25 August 2009). راوية عطية: أول نائبة مصرية بعد الثورة [Rawya Ateya: the First Egyptian Female Deputy After the Revolution]. Al Rai. The Parliament of Women (in Arabic). No. 11012. p. 7. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
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