Makerem El Deiri acknowledges she is a novelty. A Muslim Brotherhood candidate in Egypt's recent elections, the literature professor remains the most visible "sister" in a movement dominated by men.

Though El Deiri failed in her bid to win a seat in Nasr City, a middle-class constituency in north-east Cairo, observers continue to speculate about the significance of her candidacy in an organisation many associate with conservative views on the role of women.

Former leader Omar El Telmessani once stated that a "woman who believes that she is equal to a man is a woman who has lost her femininity, virtue and dignity". The Muslim Brotherhood decreed only in 1994 that women could run for public office. They still baulk at the idea of a female head of state.

The widow of a former Brotherhood secretary-general, El Deiri is the second female member of the organisation to run for a seat in parliament. Jihan El Halafawi won a seat for the movement in 2000, but lost it in a controversial recount supporters say was rigged. Brotherhood officials claim they approached 25 women to run in the last election, but El Deiri was the only one to accept.

Some analysts believe such developments represent a serious shift in the movement's thinking, others maintain it is nothing more than a shrewd move to improve its image. The Brotherhood's most recent manifesto talked about equal rights for women, with one proviso. The "dignity of women must be preserved", it stated, a qualification critics charge is open to wide interpretation.

Sitting in her office, wearing a beige khimar, the long veil that falls to the waist, El Deiri insists its position is clear: "The woman shall be represented just like the man in all fields of life, as is required by Islam."

Acknowledging, however, that the issue of whether a woman can be president is still problematic for the Brotherhood, she will only say that this remains "a highly debated subject". El Deiri rails against what she considers misplaced Western stereotypes of Muslim women.

"The West sees the Muslim woman as someone sitting at home and not working, someone who is obliged only to raise her children and look after them and that's all," she says. "We do not deny that raising children is important but there are women who are able to take good care of their children and leave their homes for work. Look at me: I raised six children of my own and had an academic career."

Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef told The Irish Times that he believes it is a woman's right to work, vote, be a member of parliament and manage her own finances.

"The woman in our faith enjoys many rights but with the condition that she does not dress inappropriately or flaunt her body," he said.

Akef appeared to contradict this later by stating that women should not be forced to wear the veil. "Hijab is an Islamic obligation but we as human beings cannot impose anything on women. We have the duty, however, to advise that it is a religious obligation," he said.

El Deiri concurs: "We cannot force the Muslim woman to wear the hijab just as we cannot force her to pray, which is certainly obligatory. It is up to God to judge her."

Hala Mustafa, editor of the semi-governmental Al-Ahram Foundation's quarterly journal, is not convinced.

"Such statements and positions are superficial and highly politicised to put across a certain message. They do not reflect the organisation's genuine attitudes towards women, which are based on strict ideology," she says. "Look at what happened in other countries with Islamic rule - Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia. They all enforced restrictions on women. The only reason the Muslim Brotherhood is saying this now is because they are not in power and they do not have the authority to enforce."