CAIRO, 31 December 2005 — Aicia Abdul Hady has become the first veiled woman to hold an Egyptian ministerial post, a decision widely considered a positive move toward appointing more women to higher government positions while, at the same time, helping to appease Egypt’s Muslim conservatives.
Aicia was appointed minister of labor force and immigration by President Hosni Mubarak, who won re-election on Sept. 7 in a field of nine candidates. The previous minister had held the position for over 15 years. The changeover is a part of an attempt by the Mubarak administration to address the unemployment problem by seeking fresh solutions, government officials have said.
The move comes after women were not strongly represented during the parliamentary elections held recently, government sources told Arab News. The Muslim Brotherhood, officially banned but politically tolerated in Egypt, made record gains in the last parliamentary elections after being shut out of the election for president.
Aicia started her career in pharmacology before joining the labor union movement in 1964. She later became vice president of the Chemical Industry Union before becoming the first woman to join the board of directors of the country’s umbrella organization for labor unions. She is a member of the Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party, as well as a board member of the International Labor Organization in Geneva.
One of the Muslim Brotherhood’s leading members, Khairat Al-Shater, issued a statement saying the appointment of a woman minister that wears a veil (hijab) is “insufficient change” that should be followed by a “wide-scale move” toward “officially accepting the hijab”.
