Arab Region: The Dignity of Women

'The Dignity of Women' publishes the voices and views of women working to end violence against women in the Arab region and to promote women's rights. In collaboration with a network of women’s organisations across north Africa and the middle east, the 5050 section of openDemocracy is bringing the knowledge and experiences of women into the global debate. You can access the podcasts and articles here

We are grateful to Hivosfor funding this editorial project as part of the Hivos Knowledge Programme on Promoting Pluralism

Tuesday 24th January

Why women are at the heart of Egypt’s political trials and tribulations

Hania Sholkamy, 24 January 2012
The Egyptian elections delivered a parliament that has one of the lowest rates of female representation in the world. Yet this is the parliament that expresses the political will of the people of Egypt. It may also be one that ignores the social realities of gender and of women’s political participation, says Hania Sholkamy
Tuesday 10th January

The Saudi response to the ‘Arab spring’: containment and co-option

Madawi Al-Rasheed, 10 January 2012
Saudi Arabia’s response to the ‘Arab spring’ has been an attempt to co-opt movements for change in a bid to maintain the status quo. Madawi Al-Rasheed talks to Deniz Kandiyoti about the contradictions of a ruling elite that promotes a conservative Islam, that threatens women’s existing rights abroad – as in Tunisia and Egypt – while it poses as the emancipator of women at home
Friday 23rd December

Women in the new Libya: challenges ahead

Kathryn Spellman-Poots, 23 December 2011
Will the rights of the women, who participated in the struggles leading to fall of Gaddafi, be put under pressure in the new Libya? Kathryn Spellman-Poots assesses women’s status under Gadaffi and points to the perils ahead.
Thursday 22nd December

Egyptian storytelling: a vessel for power

Zainab Magdy, 22 December 2011
Writing has come to mean place and presence, and presence gives us power to force those who don't acknowledge our existence to admit that they can hear the sound of our breath, says the young Egyptian writer Zainab Magdy
Tuesday 25th October

Tunisia: Feminist Fall?

Kristine Goulding, 25 October 2011
Nine months after the overthrow of the former president, Tunisia has voted in the first open and fair election in the region. In the final part of a three part article Kristine Goulding argues that if a 'feminist fall' does not come to fruition, it will be because the citizens of Tunisia have shown democratically that feminism is not consummate on their agenda.

Tunisia: Arab Spring, Islamist Summer

Kristine Goulding, 25 October 2011
Tunisia has voted in the first open and fair election in the region. In part two of a three part article Kristine Goulding warns against framing Islamism in direct opposition to women's rights. The Arab Spring redefined the roles of both women and the Islamist al-Nahda, and the two cannot be seen as mutually exclusive

Tunisia: Women's winter of discontent

Kristine Goulding, 25 October 2011
Nine months after the overthrow of the former president, Tunisia has voted in the first open and fair election in the region. In part one of a three part article Kristine Goulding asks: Is a Tunisian feminist fall, driven by local, national and international support, possible? Or will countervailing forces of politics, social pressure and religion prevail?
Monday 10th October

"Mighty be our powers": peaceful women and the global south

Nada Mustafa Ali, 10 October 2011
“We have included the Arab Spring in this prize, but we have put it in a particular context. Namely, if one fails to include the women in the revolution and the new democracies, there will be no democracy.” Thorbjoern Jagland, chair of the Nobel Prize Committee
Friday 8th July

Sudan secession: resolving divisions?

Fatin Abbas, 8 July 2011
South Sudan celebrates its independence this week, becoming the world's newest nation. But the festering divisions that are likely to haunt the north and South for the foreseeable future beg the question: will secession succeed in providing stability for the long-oppressed citizens of these two countries?

Sudan: a lonely road for women MPs in opposition

Sara Abbas, 8 July 2011
With the secession of South Sudan on July 9th, North Sudan returns to a familiar and depressing status quo - one party rule. With the elimination of southern constituency seats in Sudan’s National Assembly, only five women members of parliament remain in the opposition. Sara Abbas spoke to two of them
Monday 21st March

Shirin Ebadi: who defines Islam?

Shirin Ebadi, 21 March 2011
"Egyptian women are lucky in one way. They have witnessed the predicament of Iranian women and seen how the Islamic state has hijacked the Iranian revolution, changed the laws and reversed women’s gains. My advice to Egyptian women is “do not give way to a government that would force you to choose between your rights and Islam”. I believe that Iran was a lesson for the women in the entire region". Shirin Ebadi in conversation with Deniz Kandiyoti
Monday 14th March

From Tahrir square to my kitchen

Hania Sholkamy, 14 March 2011
Despite the vibrancy of mobilization in Egypt after Mubarak, Hania Sholkamy’s account of the 8th of March demonstration in Tahrir square to mark International Women's day bears witness to the persistent resistance to women’s political participation
Tuesday 8th March

Egypt: the two faces of liberation

Zainab Magdy, 8 March 2011
"The goddess Sekhmet has risen once and will rise again so Hathour can flourish in peace and justice" - Zainab Magdy reports from Cairo as women gather for the Million Women March in Tahrir Square today
Tuesday 1st March

Egypt: from equality of purpose to equality on the ground

Margaret Owen, 1 March 2011
"We acted together and we all adhere to the same values: justice, compassion, and unity, and these values are engraved in our souls. It is our unwritten constitution – the ethics inside all of us. Women died with men, and men protected us as women". Nora Rafeh Refa Tahtawy, 23 year old student protestor
Thursday 24th February

The rightful place of gender equality within Islam

Janine Moussa, 24 February 2011
An animated discussion is taking place about the relationship between Islam and equality and justice in the context of women’s human rights. How will the democratic uprisings sweeping across the Arab world affect this conversation?

Towards statehood: three Palestinian interviews, January 2011

Manuela Paraipan, 24 February 2011
The problems inside Palestinian society as well as those between Palestine and Israel have solutions. The process may be long, difficulties are bound to appear. But with enough local and international commitment there is no impassable barrier. There are people - probably not a few on both sides - that realize that there is now an opportunity to properly address the many decades-old issues. Manuela Paraipan presents three interviews with representatives of political and civil society.
These interviews continue a series of conversations on the issue of Palestinian statehood. For the first part, an interview with PECDAR President Dr Mohammad Shteyyeh, click here
Sunday 20th February

Statement from the Coalition of Women's NGO's in Egypt

20 February 2011
Women's NGOs in Egypt denounce the decision of the National Council of Women to represent their views at international gatherings such as the UN CSW currently underway in New York.
Monday 3rd May

Progressive male Muslim preachers: oxymoron or reality?

Cassandra Balchin, 3 May 2010
In their rush to find suitable allies to help control 'extremism', states as well as non-governmental organisations are often overlooking ordinary, individual male preachers who are taking a stand despite the risks it entails
Monday 8th March

Negotiating Bliss

Cassandra Balchin, 8 March 2010
The bliss of an egalitarian and just relationship between spouses cannot be achieved through a sheet of paper. But Cassandra Balchin writes that in Muslim contexts efforts to take a fresh look at marriage contracts is certainly a step towards this goal
Thursday 11th February

Thinly veiled misogyny

Laurie Penny, 11 February 2010
As French President Nicolas Sarkozy attempts to drive through a ban on the niqab and burqa, Laurie Penny describes how the Islamic veil has become yet another item of women’s clothing for men to fight over for their own ends
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