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# From the gender perspective to Scotland's referendum: January 23 - 29
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/from-gender-perspective-to-scotlands-referendum-january-23-29/
- Published: 2012-02-07T15:02:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T00:53:14.000Z
- Description: One year on from the January 25 protests in Tahrir Square, the experiences of Egyptian women are strained and contradictory. Zainab Magdy tells of the experience of ‘performing’ in a world of virginity tests, attacks on women and the furore over Aliaa ElMahdy’s naked photograph. Hania Sholkamy hig
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:19, #appended-excerpt

Our 50.50 section underscores the gender perspective: Aleksandra Nedzi [writes that victims](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/c1c1be0ff2&ref=opendemocracy.net) of wartime rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina still face social ostracism and a lack of a coherent strategy to address their needs, while Christel Querton of Asylum Aid [reveals](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/d22bbcc125&ref=opendemocracy.net) the disappointing fact that UK officials are asking female asylum seekers to disclose information about sex work and abuse within earshot of strangers and their children.

[Reflecting on](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/f2d2a5028b&ref=opendemocracy.net) the last tumultuous year, Aaron Peters charts thetransformative ways of mobilising that connect the 99% in the US to the Indignados in southern Europe; Kerry-anne Mendoza examines how the Occupy movement has [revolutionised our sense of self](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/8795320079&ref=opendemocracy.net); and John Wilson argues that it has [demonstrated theobsolescence](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/2b789e700b&ref=opendemocracy.net) of the mainstream media.

 As the countdown commences to Davos 2012, the preditctions ofthe *Financial Times*’ Martin Wolf for the coming economic year have generated a lively debate on openDemocracy. John Mathews highlights one [blind-spot in Wolf’s analysis](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/857a4efd7d&ref=opendemocracy.net) – capitalism’s destruction of the planet; while Simon Zadek [points out](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/f1298f27a9&ref=opendemocracy.net) another –the fact that radical change rarely comes from the mainstream.

 Elsewhere, Christopher Sisserian explores how the [French genocide law](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/0af15e4be2&ref=opendemocracy.net) has generated a ‘conflicted moment’ for Armenian consciousness; Paul Rogers returns to the prognosis of a [‘thirty year war’](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/eb4a78e06f&ref=opendemocracy.net) in Iraq; and both the [EU’s role in arms exports](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/333e196bed&ref=opendemocracy.net) and[Russia’s role in the surveillance industry](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/53900f88e1&ref=opendemocracy.net) come under scrutiny.

 The week ends as Scotland’s first minister sets out the pragmatic question he intends to ask voters in the [independence referendum](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/a02b051e98&ref=opendemocracy.net). While Anthony Barnett glimpses an end to the fusion of Englishness and Britishness, [Roifield Brown](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/eea41b45eb&ref=opendemocracy.net) hails a new era for ‘black English’ identity. Not surprisingly, [Gerry Hassan](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/459735ba5a&ref=opendemocracy.net) hugely enjoys Burns Night 2012 and [Tom Nairn](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/63aeb3b965&ref=opendemocracy.net) assesses what Scotland might do for hyper-democracy. Meanwhile a tailor in Abkhazia undertakes to make a flag [for every nation prepared to recognise Abkhazia](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/aaf97d6f92&ref=opendemocracy.net) \- even though sewing Tuvalu’s flag is tricky work.

Three links you will not want to miss:

- [Why do turtles cross the Atlantic to mate, and why understanding this might ](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/b87fb2bb0a&ref=opendemocracy.net)[be a good complement to evolution. Dan Dennett](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/96f44b8134&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- [Terry Eagleton doesn't like Alain de Botton's religion for atheists](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/250af85064&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- [Don't get stuck in arguments over "choice"](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/696f1c0337&ref=opendemocracy.net)

One year on from the January 25 protests in Tahrir Square, the experiences of Egyptian women are strained and contradictory. [Zainab Magdy tells of the experience of ‘performing’](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/aa71e62d63&ref=opendemocracy.net) in a world of virginity tests, attacks on women and the furore over Aliaa ElMahdy’s naked photograph. Hania Sholkamy [highlighs the irony](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/af5bd511bc&ref=opendemocracy.net) that Egypt’s ‘Parliament of the Revolution’ - elsewhere dubbed [SCAF’s parliament](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/0eee31e082/b5696a98c8/925caa86f0&ref=opendemocracy.net) \- has one of the lowest rates of female representation in the world.