CAIRO — By the time Egypt's parliament finally ratifies a law that will allow local elections to be held, the country's women should be ready to field candidates.

Manal al-Absy, head of a group known as the General Assembly of Egyptian Women, recently launched the “With Egypt” campaign, which aims to explain and promote the benefits of constitutional amendments the parliament is considering. The campaign seeks to support women in all Egyptian governorates through a panoply of seminars designed to shed light on the advantages of these amendments. The seminars target an elite group of jurists, parliamentarians, members of political parties and public figures.

On Feb. 14, parliament members discussed a memorandum previously submitted by the Egypt Support Coalition, a party that supports President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The memorandum covers the proposed constitutional amendments, the reasoning behind them and their objectives. After a two-thirds majority approved it, speaker Ali Abdul Aal referred the memorandum to a legislative committee to draft the amended articles for final approval.

Under the 2014 Egyptian Constitution, the state guarantees "adequate" representation of women in parliament without specifying a specific percentage and stipulates that 25% of the seats on local councils shall be allocated to women.