“Are women discouraged from achieving their dreams in Egypt?” That is a question a group of American University in Cairo set to discover with their student initiative ‘Men 7a2ik’ (Arabic for ‘it’s in your right’). Unfortunately, the students soon discovered that 70 percent of women surveyed could not achieve their dreams. Who do they blame? Egyptian society. Hoping to tackle the issue, Farida Ezzat, Lara Magdy, Passant Waseem, Farah Farag and Ingy el Gabry formed ‘Men 7a2ik’ to tell the stories of Egyptian women. “This is an initiative to reintroduce the female voice into society with the assertion that it is a RIGHT,” said Farida Ezzat, co-founder of Men 7a2ik, in statements to Egyptian Streets. “Our stories vary from women who sought to achieve their dreams (such as Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr, Dr. Madiha Safty and Dr. Mervat Abo Oaf), in addition to, other women who wished they could achieve their dreams but could not.” Yet, what does telling these stories achieve? Ezzat believes that this is the first step to empowering women to stand up for their rights. “Our organisation hopes to achieve an active discourse within society…
