Farida el-Shoubashy 'exhilarated' at being first woman ever to head parliamentary session

CAIRO – 12 January 2021: Fariday al-Shoubashy, the oldest lawmaker at the newly sworn House of Representatives, expressed exhilaration at being the first woman ever to head a parliamentary session on Tuesday.

“I’m proud that I’m the oldest member because my experience has been clean and under the spotlight since my younger years. Thank God and thanks to those people who trusted me and the political leadership that revived the role of Egyptian women,” Shoubashy told Extra News early on Tuesday. Later, she headed the inagural session of the House of Representatives. 

“It is a historic day… after a dark stage where evil divided and fragmented the society and said women shouldn’t work,” Shoubashy said, referring to the one-year rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Of the House of Representatives’ 596 members, 162 are women with an unprecedented high percentage of 27. Of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s 28 constitutionally appointed members, 14 are women.

Shoubashy, a prominent journalist, added that although she is happy to heading the inaugural session, she would not nominate herself to be the House Speaker as someone younger would be more capable of that. Meanwhile, she will seek to be a member of the media and culture committee.

She also praised the diversity in the House, saying “there isn’t a solo party controlling everything,” referring to the dissolved National Democratic Party that practiced hegemony for late President Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade presidency.

Nation’s Future party has 320 seats in the House, the Republican People Party has 60, Wafd Party has 39 and Nation’s Protectors has 27.