The Shura Council gave initial approval on Tuesday of amendments to the House of Representatives election law that could give women lower positions on electoral lists.
Members of the Shura Council Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee agreed that each list should have the name of one woman, but did not stipulate where her name should be placed.
The old draft required that the female candidates be placed on the top half of the list.
The amendments have not yet come up for a vote in an open session.
A dispute over the bill broke out after Isis Hafez, a representative for the National Council for Women, demanded that female candidates be placed on the top third of all lists, a proposal that was rejected by MPs from the Freedom and Justice and Nour Parties.
Elections for the House of Representatives had previously been scheduled for 26 April before they were suspended by a Cairo Administrative Court ruling, which said that the election law’s amendments should be submitted to the Supreme Constitutional Court.
The Supreme Administrative Court will consider an appeal to the verdict Sunday.
