At a conference held Thursday to mark International Women’s Day, MP Mohamed El-Beltagy of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) stated that Egypt no longer had a need for a quota for female members of parliament, even if there had been a need for it under the former regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

"After the revolution, responsibility is now shared between men and women," El-Beltagy said at the conference, which was organised by the FJP's women's committee.

At the event, Manal Abu El-Hassan, a professor of mass communication and a prominent female FJP member, said that women were “capable of serving the nation just like men.”

The event, held at Cairo’s Al-Azhar Centre, was attended by a number of prominent female figures who met to discuss a range of topics, including Egyptian women's participation in political life. 

The FJP and Muslim Brotherhood have both expressed opposition to the recent reshuffling of the state-run National Women’s Council, which they accuse of carrying out a foreign agenda and trying to destroy traditional Egyptian values. The FJP women’s committee has suggested launching a “National Council for Egyptian Families” to take the place of the National Women’s Council.