CAIRO — While President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared 2017 to be the “Year of the Egyptian Woman,” it failed to empower women militarily. Still, Jihad el-Komy, founder of the Moganada Masriya (Female Egyptian Conscript) campaign has continued to seek to convince officials to accept Egyptian women as soldiers and officers in combat units of the armed forces. On March 11, Komy met with Maya Morsi, head of the National Council for Women, to ask her to bring up the campaign to other top government officials.

Morsi praised the campaign as a true reflection of Egyptian women's increasing awareness of the security threats facing the country. She promised to discuss the demands of the campaign with officials and pointed out that such strong determination will put the campaign's demands into force very soon. Morsi, however, has yet to take tangible steps in the matter.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Komy said the campaign was launched in June 2011 but failed to receive adequate media coverage due to the political situation in Egypt following the January 25 Revolution.

She said calls for Egyptian women to be recruited into the armed forces have been recurrent since Sisi praised the role of women in the Jan. 25 and June 30 revolutions and following the 2014 presidential elections, which prompted the wide use in December 2014 of a hashtag that translates as “Egyptian female soldier."