乐鱼 体育

Three experts on women鈥檚 issues discussed the key challenges and opportunities for women's political participation and rights in countries throughout the Middle East following the Arab Spring.

On January 30, 2014, the Middle East Program and Global Women鈥檚 Leadership Initiative of the Woodrow 乐鱼 体育 and CARE hosted an event 鈥淎rab Spring or Arab Autumn: Women鈥檚 Political Participation in the Arab Uprisings and Beyond鈥� with Stephenie Foster, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Global Women鈥檚 Issues, State Department; Sherine Ibrahim, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and Eastern Europe, CARE; and Maryam Jamshidi, founder of Muftah.org, and author of The Future of the Arab Spring: Civic Entrepreneurship in Politics, Art, and Technology Startups. Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East Program at the 乐鱼 体育, moderated the event and noted that the Middle East Program has convened 131 meetings on gender issues in the MENA region. Since the start of the Arab Spring, the Program has hosted 10 meetings with women from the region. Esfandiari summarized the conclusions of these meetings regarding how women have fared in the Arab Spring as 鈥渆uphoria, disappointment, and now fighting back.鈥�

Ibrahim framed her discussion with the fact that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region currently ranks at the bottom of the World Economic Forum鈥檚 latest Gender Gap Report in women鈥檚 political participation and empowerment indices. In the MENA region, women hold just under 13 percent of parliamentary seats. Despite the spotlight on women鈥檚 issues as a result of the Arab Spring, Ibrahim said that today such concerns are less noticeable. She added that voices supporting women鈥檚 issues have been replaced with concerns about security, safety, and terrorism. Ibrahim indicated that fragmentation and competition among those who were advocating and working for women鈥檚 issues is a significant problem in the region today. She stressed the three main dividing issues are geographic (urban vs. rural), generational (old vs. young), and ideological (secular vs. religious). An additional problem is what Ibrahim called 鈥渋ntolerant liberals鈥� who are not helping to advance a common agenda on women鈥檚 issues. She emphasized the need for more dialogue to facilitate and bridge divides among the different groups. Ibrahim also discussed a few program and policy-focused recommendations from a recently released CARE report on women鈥檚 political participation in the Middle East.                                                               

Jamshidi discussed the key differences in the women鈥檚 movements in the region before and after the Arab uprisings. Unlike Ibrahim, she believes that the post-Arab Spring environment is more collaborative and that there has been greater cooperation among old and new actors. Jamshidi said such cooperation is between artists and activists as well. She added that various diaspora movements have also worked extensively with those who stayed in their home countries. She then noted that women were active before the Arab Spring as well, however, they faced the same restrictions as men. In the end, Jamshidi suggested that benchmarks should be set based on what women in the Middle East think they need in order to advance women鈥檚 issues in the region.

Foster spoke about her work in the Office of Global Women鈥檚 Issues at the State Department, which advocates for women throughout the world. She stated that greater women鈥檚 political participation provides a building block for developing countries with stronger economic and political systems. Foster said they try to discover ways to help institutionalize women鈥檚 participation in the political sphere as decision makers. She emphasized that as decisions are made with women鈥檚 input and participation in the process, women鈥檚 views will be better more represented. Foster discussed the importance of protecting women from gender-based violence in the region and stressed the importance of access for recovery as conflicts continue.

By the Middle East Program