Mervat Tallawy is a prominent Egyptian figure dedicated to women’s political and social rights. She is responsible for helping draft the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and monitoring its implementation. A champion of Arab women, she actively challenges countries and individuals who use ‘culture’ as a basis for oppressing and discriminating against women.
Mervat Tallawy has been a career public servant for decades. She first joined the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1963 and has served as Egypt’s Ambassador to Austria and Japan, Assistant Foreign Minister, and a member of Egypt’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Through her work at the UN, she has served as Deputy Director of the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW), and head of the UN Committee on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 1993. Tallawy has also held positions as President of the National Council for Women in Egypt, and Executive Director of the Arab Women Organization.
