CAIRO — Can cinema help raise awareness of women’s issues and give lawmakers a sense of what Egyptian women need? Mona Mounir, a member of the Egyptian parliament who launched an independent initiative dubbed Women’s Cinema, believes that films and post-screening discussions can help women understand their rights.

“The initiative aims at raising women’s awareness about their rights by showing short films that are between five to eight minutes and documentaries, followed by open discussions to get a sense of the audience’s opinions — whether they are for or against the topics addressed,” Mounir told Al-Monitor on the initiative, which she launched Sept. 29.

The initiative also spurred debate on whether members of parliament should take a role in setting up awareness projects or if that role belongs to civil society organizations.

Mounir invites local women to her office in Giza, the third largest city in Egypt, for the film screenings and discussions, which she leads. She has already tackled two sensitive subjects: female genital mutilation and child rearing.