Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/series/arab-women-in-revolution-reports-from-the-ground/)
From uprisings that overthrew colonial powers to modern revolutions waged on the streets and online, women in the Middle East have been at the frontlines of the region’s every decisive moment.
From uprisings that overthrew colonial powers to modern revolutions waged on the streets and online, women in the Middle East have been at the frontlines of the region’s every decisive moment.
And yet they are often left to the footnotes of history books and in the margins of media stories.
Women’s eNews makes them the focus.
Egypt’s revolution is now often described as hijacked and women’s legal rights are seen as vulnerable to an Islamic-style promotion of marriage and family. But in a show of their own force, women keep braving the deadly dangers of street protests.
After stirring an outcry for her article in Foreign Policy magazine, Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy on Tuesday night offered a vigorous defense of her views that the real Middle East revolution is yet to come, between men and women.
The youth-led Feb. 20 Movement in Morocco has simmered down to a core group that includes many female activists. They’re keeping an eye on constitutional reforms enacted last year that some say didn’t go far enough. “We want real, radical change,” says one.
Iraqi refugee women in Jordan offer an example of hope and resilience. But their desperate limbo is heartbreaking for Samia Qumri to witness in her work for the Collateral Repair Project, a charity started in 2004.
Many activists in Morocco are outraged and protesting the laws that led to the suicide of a 16-year-old near Tangiers, who was forced to marry her rapist. Juhie Bhatia, Women’s eNews managing editor, was in Morocco for reaction.
Women’s rights groups are criticizing Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, for neglecting women’s rights violations in an apparent rush to defend political Islam.
It was billed as a forum on Arab women and the Arab Spring. But Paola Daher found that the $300 entry free and luxury-hotel ambiance ensured that any truly revolutionary, or even slightly controversial, topics were kept off the agenda.
The venerable Egyptian women’s rights advocacy, the Egyptian Feminist Union, is coming back to life amid a flowering of civil-society groups. But the road ahead isn’t clear for a long-dormant organization that operated under British colonial rule.
Women’s rights have long been considered a development keystone. Tunisian women–in the vanguard of the Arab world–will put that theory to a crucial test as the country’s new democracy takes shape following last week’s elections.