WUNRN
Open Society Foundations
Arab Women
Confont a Tide of Injustice
Egyptian women demonstrate in front of the Egyptian Shura
Assembly demanding more rights for minority groups and
against the new election law, on January 14, 2013 in
March 10, 2014 by
Even though many Arab constitutions stipulate
equality between men and women as a general principle, individual laws often
limit women’s opportunities for full participation. Personal status
codes circumscribe their rights further and fail to provide adequate legal
protection. As in other regions women are often victims of violence, but
lack proper access to justice or effective psychosocial remedies. Women’s
participation in the labor force, estimated at 28 percent for the region, is
the lowest in the world.
Historically, Arab consciousness has
perceived women as symbolizing the “honor” of the family, the homeland, the
nation’s dignity, and everything that the society treasures. Violating this
symbol means violating the dignity of the individual and the collective. This
cultural perception has contributed to the subordination and perceived
fragility of women as every male individual gives himself the right to dictate
his moral codes on women. As societies and their cultures evolved, women
started to resist these social norms and through education and participation in
national struggles succeeded in gaining more grounds for emancipation.
Despite commonalities stemming from similar
social, cultural, and religious value systems, and often similar political
challenges, women’s groups have been prioritizing issues defined by their
national contexts while engaging actively in regional debates.
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The Gulf countries have slightly different
dynamics. While women in
The status of women in the Arab world cannot
be examined independently of the larger multi-layered political and
socio-economic context of a region that has suffered a long history of
colonialism, oppression, dictatorships, economic deprivation and patriarchal
cultures. The portrayal of women in religious and cultural narratives is
vital in understanding the problem.
Another dimension consists of decaying
education systems which reinforce archaic values from an early start.
Representation of women in school curricula and in the media is far from adequate,
and lacks real attempts for reform that encourages learning by thinking and
questioning instead of memorizing. This results in raising generations who are
not taught to think for themselves, but rather to follow the teaching and
instructions of those with power and authority such as political and religious
leaders.
A third factor relates to the fact that
deposed dictators such as Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Mubarak sought to
project a modernized image and used women’s rights as window dressing to bolster
Western support while repressing and violating every basic human right. The
first ladies were appointed the champions of the cause, to an extent that
Suzanne Mubarak had some reformed personal status laws named after her.
As a result, women’s rights activism was
associated with the old authoritarian regimes. This was clearly witnessed after
the revolutions in
While women’s rights in the region has
garnered the interest of Western governments, and “freeing Arab and Muslim
women from oppression” became a slogan and pretext for military intervention in
the region, this only contributed to growing resentment, and strengthened
belief that women’s rights are a Western import and a foreign agenda.
In the midst of this gloomy picture, where
women and their rights have been instrumentalized as bargaining chips between
contending powers, women’s organizations have for decades been promoting gender
equality within their societies. While the issues are common across the region,
the approaches and tactics may differ from one country to the other depending
on the varying social, cultural, and political dynamics.
The initial euphoria of revolutions may have
faded, but women’s activists are determined to continue the fight for a better
future. Most organizations adopt universal human rights standards and
conventions as their reference, while others promote a reinterpretation of
religious teachings (Sharia) on the grounds that principles of justice and
human rights are instilled in them but have been distorted by male chauvinists
over the years.