Union and the Arab Organization for Human
Rights) have also amassed a legacy of impressive
work on, with, and for women’s rights issues. Tied
to and separate from these, some Arab regional
women’s only organizations have also emerged
with varying degrees of success, with agendas that
focus on common challenges (particularly political
participation, economic empowerment, and cul-
tural – especially educational – development
issues), such as the Arab Women’s League based in
Cairo. All of these are separate from other women’s
organizations that are formed under the aegis of
certain governments, and often headed by the first
ladies of countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon,
and Jordan. These are in many ways offshoots
of what Mervat Hatem referred to as “state femi-
nism” or the kind of women’s rights discourse that
is acceptable to, if not promoted by, governments.
It is worth noting that in Iraq until the collapse of
the Saddam regime, state-sponsored women’s
unions were, in the limiting framework of Ba≠th
party politics, able to mobilize women on the
national and provincial levels, a situation similar to
that in some Eastern European states until the col-
lapse of communism. Needless to say, whereas all
these groups face a huge challenge in the form of
resource mobilization and funding in particular,
state-sponsored feminism, depending on the time,
location, and sociopolitical context, fares compar-
atively better.
The issue of resources, however, can be crippling
to a great many of these organizations, and can sig-
nificantly limit the diversity of issues and initiatives
dealt with. Not only that, but feminist discourse is
enriched by the activities that unfold in the field,
such that a limitation of these activities can and
does impact on the development of the discourses
themselves. On the brighter side, however, the
lack of resources, coupled with the imperatives of
changing political contexts (globally and locally)
may also forge issue-based alliances (for example,
over changes in family laws) that significantly
enhance feminist praxis in the Arab world. This is
not simply a matter of optimistic assessment, but
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Bloomington, Ind. 1993.Azza M. KaramThe CaucasusCaucasian peoples tend to enjoy a collectivist
type of culture. Hence, unlike the feminist move-
ments of the West, women’s rights activism has not
taken the shape of movements centered on women’s
individual rights.
During the Soviet period equality between
women and men was advocated by the official ide-
ology and legislation. The highest management
body, the Supreme Soviet, had quotas of between
38 and 40 percent for women deputies. In 1948 the
only official women’s organization, the Women’s
Council, was founded, with centralized administra-
tive and network structure. All levels of education,
and all professions and careers were equally acces-
sible for men and women. Yet women’s integration
into political life was incomplete since women were
not appointed to positions where actual political