Women Textile Workers in Egypt Rally for Rights

The plant had been 60 percent privatized to Indonesian and Indian investors, who were threatening to cut production. The wages of the workers, mainly women, had been frozen for 10 years at 150 pounds a month (about $30 U.S. dollars). Many were about to lose their jobs.

After their shift ended, the women in their veils staged a sleep-in with their babies. The company agreed to continue production, with no workers to be laid off and wages would not be lowered. Six workers who had been fired were returned to work.

According to another journalist, Hossam el-Hamalawy, the labor uprisings were "sparked by frustrated workers," not by any outside forces, and women were prime leaders of the movement.

Writing last March in Middle East Report , el-Hamalawy described how women among the 24,000 workers at Mahalla al-Kubra's Misr Spinning and Weaving Complex instigated the first strike last December by stopping their machines and marching over to where the men were still working, chanting, "Where are the men? Here are the women."