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Founded in 1995, the Women and Memory Forum (WMF) is composed of a group of women academics, researchers and activists concerned about the negative representations and perceptions of Arab women in the cultural sphere.
Dominant cultural views and images of Arab women constitute a major stumbling block in the course of women’s development and attainment of their rights. We believe that one of the main obstacles facing Arab women now is the scarcity of alternative cultural information and knowledge about the role of women in history and in contemporary society. The group decided to organize formally in order to advocate and promote the integration of gender as a category of analysis in the study and interpretation of Arab history and the social sciences in general. The long-term objective of WMF's specialized research is to produce and make available alternative cultural information about Arab women that can be used for raising awareness and empowering women.
The forum is managed by a governing Board of Trustees that sets policies, plans activities, and monitors their implementation. It is supported by an executive staff that carries out the decisions made by the board in addition to overseeing daily administrative tasks.
Our Vision
The WMF looks forward to a society in which justice and equal opportunities for
men and women would prevail, a vibrant society capable of constantly producing
alternative knowledge in order to reshape power relations within the different
social structures in such a way that would support and maintain human dignity
in the face of all forms of discrimination.
Our Mission
In order to accomplish its vision, the WMF adopts a gender-based cultural
mission. Through this mission it aims at contributing effectively to the
production and dissemination of alternative knowledge concerning women in the
Arab region. It also aims at rereading Arab tradition and cultural history in
order to create a new cultural and social awareness that is supportive of
women’s social and intellectual roles in the face of dominant negative
stereotypes.
Our Goals
The WMF aims at accomplishing a major goal, namely, to support and empower
women through the production and dissemination of alternative knowledge. A
number of objectives have been set in order to accomplish this ultimate goal:
Research
• Researching and documenting roles played by women in cultural and
intellectual history; differentiating between "official"
historiography and the voices of the marginalized
• Promoting gender-sensitive approaches to historical and cultural analyses of
the Arab world
• Making specialized cultural and historical knowledge available for interested
researchers
• Creating networks for the exchange of information and experiences locally,
regionally and internationally in order to support research and activities and
contribute to communication with other cultures, especially cultures of the
South, through dialogue and translation in the field of gender studies.
Capacity Building
•Mainstreaming cultural and gender-sensitive theoretical knowledge in
higher education
• Supporting the training and capacity building activities of women's
organizations and feminist movements
• Integrating cultural approaches in development projects
Advocacy
• Transforming specialized research on Arab cultural history into popular and
accessible cultural material
• Disseminating the culture of gender equality and women's rights especially
among educators and teachers through the publication of educational and
cultural material, feminist stories, folk tales and training material
• Contributing to the initiatives of women's empowerment and defending their
rights through providing informative material and means for campaigns and
advocacy activities
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