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Women & The Arab Spring: Ongoing
Struggle For Equal Rights
22 March 2013 - The prominent role played by women has been
a feature of the democracy movements in the Middle East and
Several countries from the region are undergoing fundamental
transitions, including holding elections, drafting new Constitutions, new laws
and in some cases establishing mechanisms for transitional justice. The outcome
of these processes is critical for the rights of women and their status in the
new democracies.
At a recent gathering of media and civil society experts in
Beirut, Nada Darwazeh, from the UN Human Rights Middle East Office said,
"The Arab uprising has at long last empowered women to claim a larger
presence and role in the public arena, which is something revolutionary, and
somehow contrary to decades of gender stereotyping."
This more prominent role is, however, not without risk:
"Women face several gender-specific threats in conflict and transition
countries, including but not limited to gender based violence in both the
public and private spheres, which is manifested in verbal and sexual abuse
reaching to extreme cases of rape in some contexts," Darwazeh noted.
Dedicated to discussing the situation of Women's Rights in
the aftermath of the Arab uprisings, the panelists debated gender equality,
women's empowerment in the wake of the Arab uprisings, and the political and
judicial reforms which must now follow, including the introduction of a
quota system to ensure the representation of women in decision-making
positions.
"This region's ultimate challenge lies in how to
enhance the commitment of governments to fully implement the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a treaty that
has long been ratified by all the region's states," Darwazeh said.
CEDAW's implementation, she further explained, ought to
commence with a thorough revision of how new constitutions are being drafted,
and whether or not they are taking into account the role of women in the
countries’ decision-making process.
Established in
"From
For Mona Rishmawi, Chief of Rule of Law and Democracy with
the UN Human Rights Office, women human rights defenders are often marginalized
in their work and as such are ousted from society.
"However, they have taken great strides to break free
from fear, which is critical for sustaining their voice of change. The question
is how to maintain this beam of hope," Rishmawi said in her address to the
regional meeting.
"The situation of women is worse since the
uprisings," a participant from
“In cases where women did get elected, they face fierce
opposition when they propose laws that address women’s equal rights in the
society,” she said.
Another participant from
Another of the participants concurred: "In
"The victims are forced to get married in horrible
situations, but some women who become pregnant, as a result of the rape have
their marriages nullified. They are abandoned by their families and treated as
prostitutes," she said.
Another of the speakers described the situation prior to the
uprising in
"Yet now, women human rights defenders have become
symbols of evil," she said. "Before, I faced challenges because I was
a human rights defender. Now I face challenges because I am a woman."