Women's activism and leadership in the Arab Spring revolutions

¶ … Women in the Arab Spring

Role of Women in the Arab Spring

History of Women in the Arab World

Tunisian Example and Women's Role in the Revolt

Egyptian Example and Women's Role in the Revolt

Yemeni Example and Women's Role in the Revolt

Libyan Example and Women's Role in the Revolt

Common-ground of the Eminent Female Workers

The Arab Spring was a rude awakening for the world. It brought to light how simmering discontent among the masses can erupt into a volcano on the pretext of a seemingly insignificant event. Countries that were ruled by autocratic governments for decades, realized that they had had enough of oppression and that the time had come for them to change their lives.

While these countries have generally been considered conservative with regards to women's rights, it should be noted here that Islam is actually a religion of moderation and the values that are associated with Islam by the fundamentalists in these countries is far from reality. In fact women have a very significant role to play in society and are expected to be treated with a lot of respect. While veils have been seen by the west as a means of oppression, it is actually meant to value a woman more than what she looks like. It implies valuing a woman despite her beauty, for her brains and for the work that she has done. That kept in perspective; it is not surprising to see that women in the Arab world have taken up leading roles in initiating revolts and in making sure that the fulfilled their obligations to their countrymen and to their cause.

Many women have played an important part in each of the Arab Spring revolutions and this paper will focus on one or two women in each country and try to highlight the roles that they have played in the revolt being materialized.

The thing about revolts is that people assign their hope to it, hope for a better future, hope for a better life. But it also signifies a point where people just want to get rid of the most apparent symptom of the problem without thinking of how they will cope in the aftermath of the revolt. The participation of women has been in a similar vein, where women put in all their efforts to help the country get rid of the apparent symptom, the head of the state who with his autocratic rule had managed to oppress the people for years on end. But at the end of the turmoil for the nation, more particularly the male half of the nation was the beginning of turmoil, the search for women's rights. This is because under autocratic rule the population had to think nothing but follow the laws that were imposed, and this in fact turned to be better for women living in fundamentalist majority states who, if left to their own devices, would not have granted even these basic rights to them. This was evident in the Algerian revolt, where women fought alongside men to achieve freedom from the French and once independence was achieved with the help of women, these same women were barred from political activities and were turned back to the kitchen, where they were perceived to be the best suited.

However with the change in world dynamics, and the changes in the need for a better communication and relationship skills, women it seems might have much to contribute to the society that is if men let them do their needful duties.

As is the case in Egypt and in Libya, women were part of the revolt, in fact in Egypt a blogger made a viral video that encouraged all to protest, and yet when the transitional alliance was made, there were no women on board to draft the constitutional declaration of the transitional alliance.

These double standards go to indicate that women are being deprived of their rightful place in society and that it is to the society's detriment, in the words of Barrack Obama that "No country can realize its potential if half its population cannot reach theirs."

This paper seeks to discuss the role of women in the Arab spring where one female contributor from each of the four countries -- Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya will be considered and their role will be discussed in greater detail.

History of Women in the Arab World

Before going on to discuss the role of women in the Arab spring it is important to consider how women have been treated historically in the Arab world in general. Women prior to the advent of Islam in the region, and even in its initial days until at least the first hundred or so years, women were treated with respect and had their rights of conducting business. Even the Prophet's wife used to be a business woman taking care of her father's work.

But eventually after fundamentalist thinkers and practitioners started misinterpreting Islam, the sayings of the Prophet and the Ho Quran, the world of women started deteriorating. So much so that in the Arab world everything became segregated and Islam became a compulsion rather than a matter of belief, in which it teaches tolerance for all and insists that there, is no compulsion in religion. Such teachings were ignored and the fundamentalists started discriminating against women, effectively eliminating them out of any activity of communal benefit. In the Arab world women were barred from driving, from going out without blood male relatives accompanying them, compulsion to wear veils, where Islam insists on intention and belief. In her book, 'The Hidden Face of Eve', its author, Nawal El Saadawi depicts the way things were in the Arab world with women. Sex was perceived as a taboo, and was prohibited as a social subject to be talked and discussed about. While women were made to oblige, men on the other hand were at a liberty to conduct themselves in any fashion they please with women, and more of than not, in the absence of accountability they did tend to exploit women. The author gives examples from her personal life of being assaulted by her male uncle, and such examples were and still are rife.

In fact in considering the minimal role that women played in politics and in public protests was due to sexual harassment talking place in the streets due to which women tended to stay at home. Given this pretext the role that these women have played in bringing gender disparate laws to the limelight, in the Arab world and beyond, is commendable to say the least.

Considering the four Arab spring countries and the contribution of an exemplary woman in each country is discussed as follows:

Egyptian Example and Women's Role in the Revolt

The Egyptian revolution was precipitated by a female by the name of Asma Mahfouz who uploaded a video on YouTube asking men to show their manhood and join her in the revolution and at the same time ensuring that women in the rallies weren't frisked by men. This video went viral over the internet so that tens of thousands of people showed up in Tahirir Square to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. She had planned a one day protest through this YouTube invitation, but the gathering of such an enormous crown eventually led to the president stepping down and being held accountable in the international court of law.

As far as the role of other women in Egypt is concerned, under Hosni, they had the freedom to vote, and other rights. However extremist elements do exist in Egyptian society so that when t he alliance was formed there were no women leaders in the draft constitution, which also goes to indicate that women's rights might be ignored again, and that the situation might be worse than that previously imagined. Modern Egypt with its tourism booming and its economy unstable has not been able to come up with an indigenous solution, and it seems that women will have to take a backseat in this revolution until they openly protest as they did in the case of ousting their leader. (D'Amour, 2011 )

There is a positive aspect to this where women are still allowed to vote and are allowed to take part in politics. Once they overcome the risk of harassment and learn to face of help in eliminating it, the future of Egypt seems murky.

While Tunisia, it seems might be able to reap the benefits of its struggle, Egypt seems to be in the doldrums still, and unless a concerted action is taken by these women they might have to rethink their strategies and face the misogynistic male world once again.

Yemeni Example and Women's Role in the Revolt

The Yemeni woman, whom the world is talking about, is a modest lady who is also a Nobel laureate for peace activism. Her profile as according to BBC includes that:

"The 32-year-old mother of three founded Women Journalists without Chains in 2005.

She has been a prominent activist and advocate of human rights and freedom of expression for the last five years, and led regular protests and sit-ins calling for the release of political prisoners.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited Ms Karman and the two other winners for their "non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."

The Nobel jury specifically lauded Ms Karman for playing, "in the most trying circumstances, both before and during the Arab Spring... A leading part in the struggle for women's rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen." (Profile: Nobel peace laureate Tawakul Karman, 2011)

Tawakul therefore, has done amazing work in the field of liberating women:

"In Yemen, protests were sparked by the arrest of 32-year-old Tawakul Karman, head of Women Journalists Without Chains. Now released, she insists, "There is no solution [to extremism] other than spreading the culture of coexistence and dialogue, skills that women master and possess." (Morgan, 2011)

This goes to say that even Yemen where literacy levels are already very low, even for the male population, the womenfolk have been able to gain awareness and have been able to communicate with the rest of the world regarding their needs and the needs of their regions. (Crawford, 2011)

Libyan Example and Women's Role in the Revolt

Salwa Bughaigis has played an important role in the revolution as it was here arrest as a part of a group who had arranged a sit in at the attorney general's office to seek accountability. This revolution has been sparked also by the fact that Libyan women have formed small groups that are active political practitioners and are an educated lot that can argue their case in a court for legal justice and recognition. Of course the question regarding the partiality of the judge must be considered, but the fact remains that women will have to be more active.

Libyan women too have been discriminated against, but they also have legal voting rights with which they can make their mark on the political scene of their country. Moreover, the Libyan women folk are not restricted to travel with male relatives and the society is not as strict but is conservative. And keeping that in mind women will have to use all available channels to project their needs.

Common-ground of the Eminent Female Workers

From the discussions above regarding the shining examples of women in the Arab World one theme is seen to be underlying all the stories. And that is the theme of communication. In the increasingly competitive and globalized world of today communication is the key. If not for proper communication skills either through the social media or theory, traditional jobs such as journalism and teaching, these women were able to spread awareness and akin to the Afro-American community which had to fight tooth and nail to get their freedom after nearly fifty years. Compared to them, these women, through the prowess on harnessing information technology have been able to lead their nations to change, and now what remains to be seen is how well these countries can progress in the aftermath and how many will be available to come out successfully from the situation.

Conclusion

Women in the Arab world as can be seen from all four cases are educated despite the popular perception that due to the oppressive societies they live in women are not educated enough to make informed decisions or to make for wisdom in political thought. That said, it can be seen that all the women considered were educated, knew how to use to Social media and modern internet tools to their advantage to send their message across to many users across the world.

However one factor that needs to be clarified on the pretext of this paper is the negative image of Islam that has been portrayed by the people who call themselves Muslims and those who do not practice but are extremely cynical of it. Islam is a tolerant religion, and while among much of the literature that I came across for my research to be cited in this paper, has revealed misconceptions that are seen as repressive for women. First is the fact that as far as the veil is concerned, it lends respect to a woman beyond what she looks like. In the modern world women often cite the problems they have in the work place if they don't dress well-enough for it, or how better looking women get more for their deal in their negotiations than those who are not that good-looking. Therefore Islam goes beyond this to the true intelligence of a woman which is obviously more than here beauty.

Secondly as far as the inheritance laws are concerned, people often site that they are unfair given that women only get a third of the share of her parents while sons get half. This is because women are also entitled to a share from the husband if he dies and in this case husbands don't have the custody of what their women earn, so the benefits even out.

There are other rebuttals to all the arguments presented here, but it should be noted that Muslims are not good followers and that they need to revisit their roots to understand that the rhetoric of tolerance that commoners are now talking about was present in Islam nearly 1400 years from now.

No matter what the religion or what the country, revolt has an advantage of the tide rising together against a particular vile aspect of society that all protest to remove, and this in turn forms a short spurt of nationalistic and zealous fervor that unites all groups together. However, once the common enemy is ousted rivalries and jealousies begin so that the years after the revolt are turbulent. These after-years are wrought with difficulties because more often than not revolutions plan operationally and not strategically so that people are busy fighting day-to-day without eventually realizing that their set of gains have actually diminished for a selfish motive of people who partnered with them in their fight before.

The role of women has been crucial to the success of the risings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, but now what remains to be seen as to how these regions will fare in the international arena and how they will be able to keep order after months of raging anarchy and discontent.