Though women across the Middle East participated actively in the Arab Spring protests that began in late 2010, they remain second-class citizens. Indeed, the Islamist governments now in power in several countries seem more determined than the despots that they replaced to keep women out of politics.
FEZ – Though women across the Middle East participated actively in the Arab Spring protests that began in late 2010, they remain second-class citizens, even where popular uprisings managed to topple autocratic regimes. Indeed, the Islamist governments now in power in several countries seem more determined than the despots that they replaced to keep women out of politics.
In conducting interviews with women in the region, I am struck by their overall pessimism. They fear the loss of their rights. They see economic disintegration all around them, raising the possibility of a further increase in violence. As social bonds fray, they feel increasingly vulnerable. More than once, I heard them express the view that things were better before the revolutions.
Female representation in parliaments and government cabinets after the Arab Spring has been either absent or meager, and women activists worry that Islamist parties will implement reactionary policies that discriminate on the basis of gender. In Egypt, for example, the Freedom and Justice Party, which dominates the parliament, claims that a woman cannot become President. Egyptian women were heavily represented in the protests that brought down former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime in 2011, but they have been largely excluded from any official decision-making role ever since.
FEZ – Though women across the Middle East participated actively in the Arab Spring protests that began in late 2010, they remain second-class citizens, even where popular uprisings managed to topple autocratic regimes. Indeed, the Islamist governments now in power in several countries seem more determined than the despots that they replaced to keep women out of politics.
In conducting interviews with women in the region, I am struck by their overall pessimism. They fear the loss of their rights. They see economic disintegration all around them, raising the possibility of a further increase in violence. As social bonds fray, they feel increasingly vulnerable. More than once, I heard them express the view that things were better before the revolutions.
Female representation in parliaments and government cabinets after the Arab Spring has been either absent or meager, and women activists worry that Islamist parties will implement reactionary policies that discriminate on the basis of gender. In Egypt, for example, the Freedom and Justice Party, which dominates the parliament, claims that a woman cannot become President. Egyptian women were heavily represented in the protests that brought down former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime in 2011, but they have been largely excluded from any official decision-making role ever since.