Interviewer: Al Zahraa Rashad

In this interview, we meet with a distinguished university professor who is a daughter of Cairo University and an Assistant Professor with the rank of Senior Expert at the National Center for Social and Criminal Research. In addition to teaching many courses at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, she has made outstanding academic and scientific contributions, which qualified her to receive the State Encouragement Award in Social Sciences recently. We meet with her today to learn more about her and the most prominent research and scientific papers that she has presented.

In the beginning, tell us about your upbringing and its role in shaping your scientific and human personality?

Of course, my upbringing played the biggest role in shaping my personality. My mother was keen on balancing her work with our needs as children and I learned from her that woman is responsible in her home and must be concerned with her children`s education. She encouraged me to excel in my studies. She did not see that a girl`s future is only in the social aspect, but she must be successful in everything, as the education gives a person social status, while providing opportunities for entertainment. My father, as a doctor, was a role model and despite of this, I did not want to be a doctor as the successful person is successful in any field. Society is based on the convergence and integration of roles. My father was keen to read newspapers and listen to the news, which instilled in us an interest in public affairs and keeping updated to current events. I was a student in the science department in high school. I joined the Faculty of Economics and Political Science because I loved this field and found myself in it. Thank God, I graduated with a very good grade, and I completed a master`s and PhD until I became an expert at the National Center for Social and Criminal Research and I received my master`s degree in 2009 and my PhD in 2013.

 Would like to know what was the subject of your thesis for master’s and doctoral degrees?

Our studies in the field of political science include different specializations, such as: international relations, political systems, and political theory. I was attracted to the specialization of comparative political systems because I believe that a state cannot build balanced international relations unless it is strong from within. Therefore, I focused on the specialization of systems.

My master`s thesis was about citizenship as rights and duties, including economic rights, social rights, and even environmental rights as I do believe that it is the right of any citizen to live in a clean environment. The focus of my thesis was the relationship between citizenship and political reform, as we were witnessing political transformations during this period, such as protest movements and the amendment of the 2007 constitution. In addition, I focused on concepts, as concepts often raise controversy and diversity of opinions. For example, reform is different from democratic transition.

In my PhD, I focused on political consultation as a mechanism for consensus and dialogue, based on the political theory of deliberative democracy. I believe that we resort to elections as a mechanism for choice, but we need to consult with each other on many important controversial issues that concern everyone, such as education and various economic issues. Here, it is necessary to consult between all currents of society, especially as society has different categories, such as people with disabilities, Christians, women, and youth. Empowering all social groups helps more in national alignment. These are the principles of deliberative democracy, and its application in the present time is the "National Dialogue."

 You worked in the National Council for Women. What are the most prominent activities that you participated in during your work in this ancient women’s body?
 
I was commissioned to work on the training committee, and I participated in developing training manuals for women, a crisis management manual, and a participation manual. We also organized educational seminars to raise the women awareness on several important issues, such as climate change and we were keen on introducing the trainees to this issue and how to deal with it, especially that women are in contact with household matters and deal with plastics and environmental waste, and therefore need to benefit from these components without harming the environment.

What are the most prominent research papers and studies that you participated in as an expert at the National Center for Social and Criminological Research?

 
I prepared studies on various social issues, including the issue of suicide, violence against women, slums, and many other issues. If we talk, for example, about the issue of suicide, we find out that suicide is not a phenomenon, it is individual cases. I was interested in researching the reasons why individuals resort to suicide, so I collected a sample of The National Poison Center collected cases of suicide survivors and studied them, and the results showed that the reasons leading to suicide were diverse, including economic reasons, social reasons, and psychological reasons. Despite the many and varied reasons leading to suicide, there are certain signs for a person who intends to commit suicide, including that he is depressed, He tends to be isolated and introverted, and neglectful in his appearance, and based on that, the role of the social circle surrounding him is to help him get out of this closed circle and support him.
 
What are the most prominent results and recommendations that you came up with in your research on the issue of slums?
I prepared this research within a team from the National Center for Social and Criminological Research. We carried out a field study, and we found that slums are not at the same level of danger. There are slums closer to popular areas, and others are very dangerous and must be moved and their residents integrated into society. The Egyptian country is a pioneer in Slum Development Project, we now have Al-Asmarat, Rawdat Al-Sayyida, and Al-Duwayqa, and we have seen the success of the country’s efforts in transforming these areas into safe areas integrated into society.

What about the research that recently won the State Encouragement Award in the Social Sciences?
 
This research is entitled “Features of electoral propaganda in light of the legal controls for the 2020 House of Representatives elections,” and this research was published in Al-Istiqlal magazine, affiliated with the Al-Istiqlal Center for Strategic Studies and Consultations, headed by Professor Dr. Jamal Zahran. This research paper relied on a legal approach to know the rights and duties of candidates during the electoral propaganda phase in accordance with the laws regulating the electoral process and the decisions of the National Elections Authority, in addition to the content analysis method for a sample of the pages of candidates in the elections on Facebook in the period from 5 to 30 October 2020. The legal period allocated for electoral propaganda for candidates in the first and second stages, The sample size was one hundred candidates, and the results of this research indicated that the intense competition in the parliamentary elections was reflected in the role of electoral propaganda in introducing citizens to the candidates, and the intensity of the use of social media in propaganda cause of the restrictions imposed by the Corona pandemic.
 

At the end of this interview, what is the message that you want to address to the readers?

My message to everyone is to work hard, not to let ourselves become frustrated, not to get involved in conflicts, and to always be busy with hard work even if it is not for long hours. The most important thing is continuity and regularity. We must work regularly and without interruption and maintain the effort we put in on a continuous basis.