Egypt's field of presidential candidates for the March election is exceptionally sparse this year. But this year, like every other year, the field is absolutely barren when it comes to female candidates.

One woman tried to run. But Mona Prince, an English literature professor at Suez University, failed to collect the necessary 25,000 signatures.

On Jan. 30, the elections commission announced that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will face only one other candidate: Moussa Mustafa Moussa, head of El Ghad Party. However, Moussa is actually a Sisi supporter who many claim is only running to give the race an appearance of legitimacy.

Egypt’s presidential elections have lacked female competitors. In 2005, former President Hosni Mubarak ran against nine candidates, all men. Following the January 25 Revolution of 2011, 13 men competed in the 2012 election. At that time, television anchor and presidential hopeful Bothaina Kamel failed to collect the then-necessary 30,000 endorsements from citizens. In May 2012, Kamel told BBC, “I fought a war against the backward mentalities,” adding, “A woman participating in the electoral run is a new phenomenon, which is why society rejected it, as it prefers stability [and rejects change].”