take the necessary legal measures to set up shelters
and to train doctors, police, and magistrates in how
to deal with cases of violence against women.
Female illiteracy rates in the region are still very
high, an average of 42 percent in comparison to 21
percent for males. The average female participation
in the workforce peaks at 29 percent though it is 39
percent for countries with comparable revenues.
Discrimination against women in paid employment
is widespread, and is reinforced by the absence of
laws and enforcement mechanisms that protect
women from wage discrimination and sexual harass-
ment in the workplace. Furthermore, women have
traditionally worked in agriculture, which, as well
as their household work, is not accounted for in the
national economy of their countries. This has led to
to further marginalization of women’s contribution
to their respective societies.
The constitutions of countries in the region guar-
antee in principal equal political rights for men and
women. Yet, in practice the participation of women
in political decision-making processes is among the
weakest in the world. Some countries, like Jordan,
have adopted affirmative action by introducing a
quota for female parliamentary members. How-
ever, with the regimes in the region suppressing and
controlling the right of any citizen to freely partici-
pate in political life, the mere presence of women in
powerless institutions will not necessarily improve
women’s status. In some cases, affirmative action
even has the reverse effect, providing the state with
the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to
women’s rights, and thus making it all the more dif-
ficult to argue in favor of genuine empowerment of
women in political decision-making.
Governments in the region have signed and rati-
fied international pacts and conventions relating to
women’s rights, particularly the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW), but have added reservations
that go against the spirit and letter of those con-
ventions. They have been particularly hesitant over
articles 2, 9 (paragraph 2), 15 (paragraph 4), and 16
of CEDAW. Article 2 demands parties to condemn
all forms of discrimination against women and
thereby establish legal protection for women; arti-
cle 9(2) demands equality between men and
women with respect to the nationality of their chil-
dren; article 15(4) demands equality for women in
regard to their freedom of movement and freedom
to choose their residence and domicile; and article
16 demands the elimination of discrimination in all
matters relating to marriage and family relations.
States often resort to cultural and religious expla-
nations for not implementing the provisions of274 human rights
these international conventions. Furthermore, inter-
national human rights norms are usually not inte-
grated in the national legislation of these countries.
However, despite or even because of the exclu-
sion of women from the official political sphere,
women have been active in associational life in
many countries in the region. The history and evo-
lution of women’s rights organizations in the region
varies enormously across political, social, and eco-
nomic contexts. Traditionally, the women’s rights
movement has been linked to national liberation
movements and today there is a strong link between
the women’s rights movement and the movement
for human rights and democracy.
Particularly during the United Nations Decade
for Women 1976–85, women’s rights activists from
the region began to attend regional and inter-
national meetings on women’s rights. By the 1990s
they began building regional networks such as
Aisha, Court of Arab Women, Sisterhood is Global
Institute (SIGI), Maghreb/Mashrek Network for
Information and Training on Gender, along with
many other unofficial networks. Women’s rights
organizations and networks are involved in differ-
ent activities, such as campaigning on specific issues
pertaining to violence against women, or more gen-
erally informing women about their rights and pro-
viding legal aid and counseling. Yet, despite these
activities in promoting women’s rights, there is still
a lack of information about the status of women in
the region and a tendency to stereotype women in
the media as suppressed and thereby to overlook
their capacities and the role they play in imple-
menting change in their respective societies.
The relationship of the women’s rights movement
in the region with the ruling regimes and Islamist
factions poses a serious challenge to the movement.
The ruling powers attempt to limit, curb, and exer-
cise total control over civic initiatives through legis-
lation on public and associative freedoms. Thus, in
the name of fighting the Islamist groups, the ruling
powers try to co-opt or control the women’s rights
movement and use it for their own ends. In Syria
and in Egypt, for example, organizations require
government authorization in order to be registered
and receive funding. Another means of control is
for the regime, as is the case in Jordan, to create
para-official structures in the guise of independent
NGOs – the so-called GONGOs (government organ-
ized non-governmental organizations) – which often
receive funding from international donors, while
presenting themselves as national networks uniting
the whole of the women’s rights movement.
The Islamists, whose model for society and
women’s role within it often corresponds with soci-