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Page 7 ISSUE 14 December 2019 ELITE

A SPECIAL INTERVIEW WITH
DR. AMAL K. HAMADA

NEW DIRECTOR OF FEPS WOMEN

STUDIES UNIT

• Rehab: Does the Unit provide support for anyone i nterested in gender
studies, regardless of their gender? Support is not limited to women only?
"Woman Studies Unit seeks • Dr. Amal: Of course, the recent trends do not sup port the idea that
to offer knowledge and women's issues belong to them alone, and vice versa , some men are also
expertise for concerned interested of society, and women's issues because the interested in common
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• Rehab: What are the Unit ’s short- and long-term plans?
Cairo: Carolin Sherief, Fareeda Khalifa, Rehab Khaled, Yassmine G. Hussein
• Dr. Amal: We aspire to achieve the following duri ng this year
The elite team went to the Women's Unit of the Faculty of Economics and Political
1. Organizing a series of monthly seminars or semin ars on academic
Science, which is one of the most important and effective units in our c ollege; to
issues concerned with women and gender studies. Par ticipants in this
meet with Dr. Amal Hamada, the director of the Center and one of th e faculty
series are interested students from different depar tments and not only
professors in the Department of Political Science, to congratulate her first on this
political science department, in addition to gradua tes and master's
position. And to learn more about the activities of the unit .........
students.
• Ms. Carolin: Dr. Amal, first, congratulations on taking office and hope fully it will
be a fruitful period. We'd love to start with you. What is the Women's U nit and what 2. We try to establish scientific partnerships with regional and Arab
are its activities in the faculty?
universities with similar studies, in order to avoi d the problem of different
• Dr. Amal: The Women's Unit was originally a unit for women's econo mic studies contexts that arise when dealing with international universities,
sometimes, their research agenda and priorities are different from our
affiliated with the center for economic and financial research and studies . It was
established during the time of Dr. Jasmin Fouad's presidency of the ce nter, then it priorities, the partnership with similar universiti es reduce the gap between
transformed a main part, through which the professional master ’s program was
these differences. For example, it is very useful t o benefit from the
created, and then it became an independent unit. Additionally, its n ame was changed
Lebanese expertise and deepen our cooperation, and during the
from Women's Economic Studies Unit, to the Women's Studies Unit only. It is
preparation of the master's program we met with the m and benefited from
essentially a unit that is supposed to promote interest in women's issues in Egypt
their experience a lot. Our plan for this year begi ns by exploring the
and the Arab world, it incorporates studies in this field as well as the b eing the hub
for the professional master ’s. Through this, it coordinates with the Anti-Violence possibilities of partnership and the long-term impl ementation.
and Harassment Unit at Cairo University.

• Fareeda: Are there any other entities apart from universities that the
• Ms. Carolin: Does the Unit have other activities?
Unit is interested in pursuing partnerships with?
• Dr. Amal: The unit focused mainly on the master ’s program because it took nearly
• Dr. Amal: We already have a partnership with the United Nations
two years in the preparation stage, such as preparing the list and decision s and
Women's Empowerment Program, who are supporters of the unit and
training teachers, in addition to the fact that the program has only b een there for 3
offer scholarships to master students. We also have an informal
years. The unit has focused on making this program efficient and effec tive, and this
partnership by virtue of mutual interest with the N ational Council for
was its main focus. The unit does not have a lot of employees, the employees were
directed towards a specific need, and we hope in the coming period that the re will be Women. We are trying to look for ways to strengthen this partnership.
space to carry out work for women in more concentration.
We hope to establish partnerships with bodies inter ested in academic

issues. We also have partnerships with service bodi es to empower
• Rehab: How can the Women ’s Unit help women in the faculty specifically?
women, such as the National Council for Women, and generally, any
• Dr. Amal: The women's unit is not primarily a service unit, nor is it a room to
partnerships of this kind will be useful for all of us.
receive women's complaints. University units offer non-research activitie s to

students in general. Based on its name, the Women's Studies Unit, it is supposed to
• Fareeda: Are there any specific activities offere d to FEPS students in
support scientific research in the field of gender in all possible forms. It also
particular?
provides expertise to students or teaching assistants interested in working on gender
• Dr. Amal: I am seriously considering various thin gs, we have a good
issues. It is offered at the faculty to include the gender component beca use the
library, and we can offer academic material that st udents can benefit from
faculty has only one course related to this subject: women and politics. It is also
possible for the unit to support professors to integrate gender in different courses
in their research or private readings. Also, we are seriously considering
and disciplines. It is also possible to organize a series of lectures or sem inars on
providing an internship opportunity in the unit for students of the second,
issues considered academic and practical for women and the academ ic community
third, and fourth years, which would provide mutual benefits for students
at large.
and the unit, and it doesn ’t require a lot of resources.

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Page 7 ISSUE 14, December 2019 ELITE