New Voices for the Women in the Middle East *
* In September, 1996, a court in Pakistan issued a decision that a woman does not have the right to marry the man of her choice, and that her guardian must approve her marriage.
* In Kuwait, in 1996, the People's Assembly, or Parliament, voted to separate male and female students on campus.
* In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive cars.
* In Qatar, women have separate libraries on campus.
* In Egypt, the Court of Appeals issued a decision ordering a university professor to divorce his wife, who is also a university professor, because his adversaries accused him of disbelief. The couple found refuge in Holland.
* In Afghanistan, in October, 1996, the ultra-conservative Taliban Militia ordered all the schools for girls closed and all working women to stay home.
These news items from the world media are the tip of the iceberg of the injustices under which the majority of women in the Middle East live.
Two books by American women journalists recently have been published about the problems faced by women in the Middle East: Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World, by Jan Goodwin, was published in 1995; Nine Parts of Desire, by Geraldine Brooks, was also published in 1995. Both authors are capable journalists who spent many years reporting from the Middle East, and they are very supportive of women's rights in the Middle East. Both tried to report the injustices these women are subjected to in as many as ten Middle Eastern countries, all of which the authors visited more than once.
The findings of both of them are profoundly disturbing and center on the enormous influence of militant Islamic fundamentalists who have created a system of gender apartheid that has turned women in some Middle East communities into virtual prisoners. Both authors repeatedly refer to the well-known fact that none of the abuses, cruelties or acts of violence against women in the Middle East has any justification in the Holy Qur'an, the Sunnah, or the Hadith-the three sources of Islamic religion. They indicated that the extreme fundamentalist interpretation of the religious texts and traditions are the sole reason for the legal status of women in Middle Eastern societies. They also agreed that fundamentalist patriarchal attitudes toward women are characteristic of the three major Middle Eastern religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
One of the earliest American studies on women in the Middle East is that of Elizabeth Fernea and Basima Bezirgan, Middle Eastern Women Speak, published in 1977. Subsequently, Fernea published several other books, essays and films on women in the Middle East. Another early study on Middle Eastern women is the collection of essays by Lois Beck and Nikki Keddie entitled Women in the Muslim World that appeared in 1978. In 1990, another anthology of articles, Opening the Gates : a century of Arab feminist writing, edited by Margot Badran and Miriam Cooke, came out. Earlier, in 1986, Badran issued a translation of the memoirs of Huda Sha`rawi, the pioneer Egyptian feminist in the 1920's, Harem Years : the memoirs of an Egyptian feminist (1879-1924).
In 1996, Cynthia Nelson, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at American University in Cairo, published a landmark-study in Middle East women studies entitled Doria Shafik, Egyptian Feminist: A Woman Apart. Doria Shafik was a leading Egyptian feminist, poet, publisher and political activist from the 1930's to the mid-1950's.
In addition to these American authors, there is a new generation of Middle Eastern women authors who write in English, French, and Arabic about women in the Middle East. Nawal Sa`dawi of Egypt, Fatima Mernissi of Morocco, Deniz Kandiyoti of Turkey, Mahnaz Afkhami and Valentine M. Moghadam of Iran, and Evelyne Accad of Lebanon are just a few in this group of activists and feminists. They are novelists, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and political scientists.
Several socio-political research reports revealed the following facts about the conditions of the majority of women in the Middle East:
1) Women's political participation in most of the Middle Eastern countries is out of proportion to their population number, which is approximately 50%, as Table 1 illustrates. Tables 2 and 3 show relationships involving women's economic activity and women's education levels respectively.
[All of the tables in this section are from Women and Poverty in the ESCWA Region. Issues and Concerns. United Nations. Economic and Social Conditions for Western Asia, 1995. Series of Studies on Arab Women and Development, no. 22.]
2) Women's status in all Middle Eastern countries is lower than that of men, as shown in Table 4.
3) Women are under-represented in the Middle East countries' labor force, according to Table 5.
4) Table 6 shows that the percentage of illiterate women is much higher than that for men, especially in the rural areas.
5) Middle Eastern societies tend to trap women in certain kinds of jobs, mainly as housewives, teachers, nurses, or unpaid helpers in rural areas.
6) Working women are paid less than men for the same kind of work.
7) Certain cultural traditions and social practices prevalent in Middle Eastern societies work against the health, happiness, and social and personal progress of women.
8) Women in the Middle East, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish, resent men's patriarchal control of the interpretation of the religious texts and traditions.
9) In all Middle Eastern countries, there a need for legal reform with respect to inheritance, marriage, divorce, and custody of children.
These are sociological facts that are prevalent throughout Middle Eastern societies, as diverse as they are in ethnic composition of the population, religious affiliations, and economic and political systems. Diversity also exists in women's responses to their status in their respective societies.1 We shall see how women in the Middle East respond to the discrimination and the inequality that is deeply rooted in the traditions of their societies and in the attitude and behavior of men towards them and their vital roles in these societies.
In general, nationalism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries mobilized women in most of the countries of the Middle East. However, once states gained independence from colonial powers, women more often than not lost their role in the process.2 At present, there is a women's movement in every Middle Eastern country. There are women leaders in these movements who have devoted all of their lives to the goal of achieving equal opportunity and dignity for their sisters. Some of them are more successful than others in their respective countries.
In Algeria, women played a very important role in the war of independence in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1990s however, they are subjected to the harsh policies and terrorist actions of the militant fundamentalists. Their desperate situation in present-day Algeria is reported daily in the news media. Winifred Woodhull explains how the literature written by Algerian women reflects their precarious situation in their society.
"The novels published by Algerian women in recent years convey a sense of discouragement, if not desperation, with respect to women's situation in Algeria.''3
She also states that, "without question, [Asia] Djeber's novels are feminist and are highly critical of women's situation in Algeria.''4 Rejection of the situation of the Algerian women is not only reflected in the French-language Algerian literature, but also is shown in the literature written in Arabic by North African women writers, as explained by Evelyne Accad.5
Women in Tunisia enjoy a much better situation because the governmental anti-fundamentalist efforts are supported by a legal, secular and civic groups network. Through the women's associations and the very active role of the National Union of Tunisian Women, the influence of conservative militant fundamentalism is minimal. According to Valentine Moghadam,
"Tunisia's Personal Status Code of 1956 is unique in the Muslim World as it applies a modernistic interpretation of Islamic law and a daring interpretation of the traditional laws in a feminist way.''
She further explains the gains made by Tunisian women.
"The present role of women in Tunisian society and their insertion in the production system resulted from the determined action of a deeply feminist legislature, which immediately after independence served as a counter-current to customary and social practices. The promulgation in 1956 of the Personal Status Code immediately put an end to the ... double moral standard (what is good for men is not for women). Despite the opposition of conservative and traditional forces, these considerable legislative gains, which are of prime importance to the social future of these regions, protected women from arbitrary and unilateral male actions and ensured them with dignity, respect and equality of rights, mainly in the following areas:
"... attempts to understand from different angles the puzzling question that is my obsession: Why on earth is the Arab World so hostile to women?... Why so much desire to humiliate and retard us despite our efforts to educate ourselves and become productive and useful?''
She seeks the answer in history, economics, religion, and demography. Mernissi, who is a sociologist, writes in support of the women in the Middle East in a highly informative and convincing manner. She concludes the introduction by stating:
"Maybe we should think about creating schools to brainwash our politicians out of their obsessive desire for obedient, head-bowed, subservient, silent women. Maybe ... women should think about a `Liberation Vaccine' with which to inoculate our Muslim leaders; from the moment we see a child interested in politics we should give him the chemical he needs in order for him to accept an autonomous self-reliant woman. We certainly need to help these men face reality, to see that the obedient creature has disappeared ...''
"While the discovery of oil generated large-scale wage employment opportunities for Saudi men in towns and cities, it lead to massive unemployment for women who became totally economically dependent on men, and their role, for the first time, was reduced to full-time housewives. The wealth generated from the oil boom in 1970's made it economically feasible to perpetuate the old customs of veiling and seclusion of women in Saudi society. Today, the segregation of women is completely institutionalized and begins in the early childhood stages. Now, women live most of their lives entirely with women. Separate entrances and reception rooms for males and females in homes, different facilities in schools, zoos, restaurants and public parks only perpetuate the belief and practices of the separation of sexes in virtually all aspects of life.''7
Saddeka Arebi, a Saudi Arabian woman professor of anthropology, who teaches in the United States, has written the most important book about the women of her country. In Women and Words in Saudi Arabia: The Politics of literary discourse, she studies a selected group of Saudi women writers who used "the word'' to promote the women's cause in their society. These women writers have
"emerged not only as a subject of discourse but also as generators of discourse producing their own texts and forming their own concepts for comprehending the universe. Since the late 1970's and despite the overwhelming power of discourse about them, women's words were unrelenting and daring in their challenge.''8
She quotes a religious legal opinion which summarized the extremely fundamentalist view of women and which the women writers have been trying to change. The opinion states:
"Attacking men's guardianship of women is an objection to God and an attack on His Book and on His prudent law. This is great infidelity (Kufr akbar) by the consensus of Islam's `ulama ... It is absolutely necessary that the newspaper be publically punished by stopping its publication. The woman who wrote and the editor-in-chief must be tried and disciplined in a deterring manner.''9
"How do women themselves use words as a means to counter the language of power, and aesthetics as a political strategy for revisions of concepts, ideas, and institutions that are used to control them?''
Earlier in another work, Arebi made an important remark about Muslim women :
"There are three reasons why Muslim women may generally find it difficult to adopt a western model of feminism predicated on premises deemed universally applicable. Firstly, Muslim women do not perceive `family ties and kinship ties [as] a hindrance to women's liberation'; secondly, there is a resentment of `the West's identification of "the problem'' of Muslim women as a religious problem'; and thirdly, wages have not necessarily functioned as a `liberating force' in the sense advocated by western feminists.''10
In Turkey, women have enjoyed theoretically the same legal rights as men since the earliest days of the country's new republic, which was founded in 1923. But the change has not been universal. The main problem is the obvious difference between the cities and the rural areas, as is the case in all of the Middle East. In the rural areas, women are not educated, and they are subservient to men and fundamentalist traditions. Some of the demands submitted by a Turkish women's conference held in 1975 were as follows:
According to Professor Arat,
"Feminist women of different persuasions, socialist and radical feminists included, all upheld a woman's right to exercise her will, choose her destiny. Defying tradition and male authority, they encouraged women to claim their [equal status with men]. An important goal of the feminist movement was to enhance women's respectability as individuals, rather than as mothers and sisters. Various activities and the colourful discourse of the women's movement underlined the significance of women's claim to their emotions and problems as women. The journal Feminist brought out by radical feminists was a testimony to the feminists' insistence on individual rights. The journal invited women to write as individuals. Consequently, personal issues that had not been publically disclosed and thus politicized until the 1980s, such as abortion, lesbianism, and alternative lifestyles, were voiced ...''12
The women's movement challenged the state tradition in Turkey, because feminists supported their individual rights in defiance of the patriarchal norms protected by the state. The Kemalist legal structure still had biases against women. Women made the claim that the personal was political and requested that the state respect women's private lives and choices, at the same time it guaranteed protection to women in the private realm, where they are most exploited. In Deniz Kandiyoti's words, the women in Turkey were, "emancipated but unliberated.''
Arat also writes:
"Major public demonstrations and political activities of the women's movement were actually reactions to state policies. Women undertook a petition campaign in 1986 in Ankara and Istanbul because the state did not implement the 1985 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, even though the convention was signed by Turkey in 1985. In 1987, feminist women protested the battering of women with a major campaign ...
In contrast to feminists' insistence on women's right to choose, [traditionalist] ideology regulates all aspects of socioeconomic and political life as well as the rights and responsibilities of women. Under these conditions, the women's movement was a secular front, defending the secular interests of women and arguing for the primacy of a democratic context for the promotion of women's rights.''13
The women's movement in Egypt goes back to the nineteenth century. It was started by Rif`ah al-Tahtawi, who called for the education of women because he knew that literacy was the key to improving the status of women. In 1894, a famous Christian lawyer, Morqus Fahmi, wrote a play about the ideal relations between men and women, which, in his view, should be based on equality, cooperation, and mutual respect. In 1899, Qasim Amin (1865-1908) published Tahrir al-Mar'ah. An English translation of this book has recently appeared.14 In 1901, Qasim Amin issued another book, Al-Mar'ah al-Jadidah (The New Woman).
In his books and articles, Amin has
"argued that originally Islam had acted to improve the condition of women and that a return to the true precepts of Islam, combined with improvements in education, legal and social rights, would accord woman her proper position in Muslim society. The publication of this work aroused great controversy in Egypt in conservative religious circles, though a section of Egyptian nationalists gave their support to Amin's arguments. Many of the ideas put forth by Amin in this work were to reappear subsequently in the writings of other, more recent, advocates of greater rights for women in Islamic societies, though his most direct influence was on the work of the Egyptian feminist writer, Malak Hifni Nasif.''15
The first Egyptian woman activist was Huda Sha`rawi. She was actively involved in the nationalist movement and participated in the anti-British demonstrations of the 1919 revolution by organizing women protestors. Moreover, she encouraged women to do away with the veil.
"In 1920, Hoda Sharawi founded the Wafdist Women's Central Committee, which among other activities led a boycott of British goods in 1922. With Ceza Nabarawi and other Egyptian feminists, she and the Central Committee also fought actively for the rights of women and for greater protection for working women. In 1938 Hoda Sharawi chaired the First Arab Women's Congress in Cairo. As editor of L'Égyptienne, 1925-1940, she wrote about, and campaigned for, a more enlightened attitude about women's role in Egyptian society. She founded the Egyptian Feminist Union in 1925."16
An excellent condensed review of the history of the Egyptian women's movement between 1920-1960 is Cynthia Nelson's and Akram Khater's paper, "al-Harakah al-Nisa'iyah: The Women's movement and political participation in modern Egypt.''17
The most prominent feminist during that period was Doria Shafik, whose biography by Cynthia Nelson can be considered a history of the women's movement in Egypt during the period 1940-1955.18 Other important sources are Margot Badran's Feminists, Islam and Nation19 and Soha Abd al-Kader's Egyptian Women in a Changing Society, 1899-1987.20
The most recent work on the Egyptian women's movement is Ghada Hashim Talhami's The Mobilization of Muslim Women in Egypt.21 Talhami, Professor of PClitics and chair of International Relations at Lake Forest College in Illinois, studied the full impact of the fundamentalist movement on both the Muslim and Christian women of Egypt. She also paid careful attention to the secular feminist reforms initiated by Jihan Sadat. Talhami reaches the conclusion:
"The struggle for women's rights in Egypt, as elsewhere in the Arab world, is a continuing battle affected by sectoral divisions within female ranks, indifferent secular men, and authoritarian rulers schooled in cooptational politics. The history of the feminist struggle in Egypt offers the best lesson in gender strategization and demonstrates the dilemma of reconciling loyalty to gender and loyalty to nation. Egypt's feminist history is richer than that of other Arab countries, offering a variety of experiences and political actors, but more than anything else illustrating the dilemmas facing most Arab women today.''22
There is much written on women in Israel. Yael Azmon and Dafna Izraeli report in Women in Israel that,
"Israel remains a society of contradiction. Forces generally associated with modernization-those leading to greater autonomy and empowerment for women-unfold and come into conflict with those associated with women's subordination. Over the last two and a half decades women in ever greater numbers pursued higher education, entered and remained in the labor force, and attributed increasing importance to work relative to family life. In response to pressure from women's organizations, public policy shifted from its protective stance toward women as the more vulnerable sex to advocating equal opportunity in the labor market. Feminist organizations were instrumental in the social construction of violence against women as a social problem and women became actively involved, even in leadership positions, in the new political movements of both the left and the right. At the same time the rise of the political right wing and ultra-Orthodox parties and the general population's political shift to the right combined with the spread of religious fundamentalism to strengthen the conservative ethos and policies anti-ethical to gender equality. Other forces, such as the shrinking economy and the increasing unemployment throughout the 1980's, the Intifada, the need to direct resources to absorb massive immigrations, and the increasing fragmentation of political alliances not directed specifically toward women, nonetheless worked against women's opportunities in the public sphere. Thus new developments heightened feminist consciousness but new obstacles blocked the way to gender equality.''23
"Every attempt to give constitutional expression to the principle of equality between the sexes has either been marked by the subordination of the principle of equality to that of commitment to certain predicates of a religious Jewish state or has failed to gain any modicum of acceptability because it did not incorporate such subordination. The significance of the priority of religious values over egalitarian values is that it incorporates and endorses a patriarchal concept of women's role in the family. The...rules of Jewish law, as well as the rules of Moslem, Druze, Bedouin and, to a lesser extent Christian law, are typical of all patriarchal legal systems in that they exclude women from full participation in the public sphere while subordinating them to male authority in the private sphere.''24
"There is evidence that the prolonged uprising, which has organized and mobilized so many Palestinians, has had a positive impact on women's roles, inasmuch as women have been able to participate politically in what was probably the most secular and democratic movement in the Arab world. Internationally, the best known have been the guerrilla fighter Leila Khaled and the negotiator and English professor Hanan Ashwari-two contrasting examples of roles available to Palestinian women in their movement. During the 1970s Palestinian women's political activity and participation in resistance groups expanded, whether in Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza, universities, or in refugee camps. And during the Intifada, or uprising against occupation, which began in 1987, Palestinian women organized themselves into impressive independent political groups and economic cooperatives. A feminist consciousness is now more visible among Palestinian women. Some Palestinian women writers, such as Samirra Azzam and Fadwa Tuqan, have combined a critique of patriarchal structures and a fervent nationalism to produce not only suffering and destruction but a remarkable body of literature with strong themes of social and gender consciousness. Miriam Cooke's analysis of the war writings of the `Beirut Decentrists' in the late 1970s and early 1980s shows the emergence of a feminist school of women writers. Indeed, Cooke's argument is that what has been seen as the first Arab women's literary school is in fact feminist.''25
"Compared to their important role in sustaining the popular uprising, women's participation in political decision-making was marginal. The political women's movement was not so much a women's movement, representing first and foremost the interests of women, as a political movement putting national liberation before the liberation of women. Its different committees were extensions of the different factions of the Palestinian national movement. In 1991 the split in the Democratic Front For the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) led to a split in the Palestinian Federation of Women's Action Committees. Increasingly, however, the leaders of the political women's committees are insisting on being taken seriously as an independent movement; they are committing a growing part of their programmes to women's social and political concerns and are tackling obstacles to women's equality that are imminent in Palestinian society itself.''28
Despite the diverse conditions of women in Middle East and the various responses of women to their lower social and economic status, there is something in common among all the women-that is, their rights are human rights. Women's rights advocates worldwide are in agreement as to the importance of internationalizing women's rights as human rights. When little girls get less food, less medical care, less education, and more work than little boys, when women can not travel, marry or leave home without some man's permission, when rights to vote, meet and speak out are restricted, when children's custody is given only to the father and when women are denied the right to control their bodies, they are actually being denied their human rights.30
Stanlie Jones, of the University of Colorado Women's Studies Program, explains this concept in her excellent paper "Challenging Patriarchal Privilege Through the Development of International Human Rights.''31 Jones' basic idea is that fundamental boundaries of patriarchal privilege have been preserved and perpetuated through the establishment of elaborate normative systems of gender-based oppression. These systems, flexible and responsive to various conditions, are fully operational across time and space, from the familial through the national and international levels. The paper examines the issues of women's rights within the context of the struggle to conceptualize human rights.
Among other works on the concept, "Women's rights are human rights,'' I mention the following outstanding ones:
Guidance manuals for the implementation of the CEAFDAW recommendations aim at achieving the equal enjoyment and protection of all human rights of women and their fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. These rights include, inter alia: the right to life, equality, to liberty and security of person, equal protection under the law, to be free from all forms of discrimination, to the highest standard attainable of physical and mental health, to just and favourable conditions of work, and not to be subjected to torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. To achieve this goal, the guidance manuals recommend the following approaches:
Will the women of the Middle East join the universal
movement of "Women's right are
Human Rights''?
Appendix 1: Human Rights Guaranteed in Main International Treaties
Appendix 2: Chronology of Women's Right to Vote
Note: This Table includes those countries for which information
could be gathered and verified from the variety of existing
sources, but does not encompass all countries.
Appendix 3: Chronology of Main Human Rights Instruments
Appendix 4: Illustrative Human Rights Issues Addressed by the
Commission on the Status of Women
The following is an incomplete listing of organizations that work toward the development and application of international human rights law for women. Where possible, organization reports or periodicals are indicated.
A. International and Regional Governmental Organizations
Commonwealth Secretariat. Legal and Constitutional Division, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London SW14 5HX, United Kingdom. Tel: 44-1-839-3411; Fax: 44-1-930- 0827.
Council of Europe. Directorate of Human Rights, B.P. 431 R6, F 67006 Strasbourg, France.
European Community. Women's Information Office, 200 Rue de la Loi, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: 32-3-299-411/416; Fax: 32-3-299-9283.
International Labour Office (ILO). Adviser on Women Workers, 4, Route des Morillons, CH 1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Tel: 41-22-799-6111; Fax: 41-22-798-8685.
Organization of American States. Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), 1889 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20006 U.S.A. Tel: 202-458-6084; Fax: 202-458-6094
United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria. Tel: 43-1-21131-4269; Fax: 43-1-2192-599.
United Nations Centre for Human Rights. Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. Tel: 41-22-734-6011; Fax: 41-22-917-0123.
United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW). DC-2 Bldg., 12th Floor, 2 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A. DAW has developed the Women's Information System, a computerized bibliographic data system and publishes Women 2000. Tel: 212-963-4668; Fax: 212-963-3463.
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). 304 East 45th Street, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A. Tel: 212-906-6454; Fax: 212-906-6705.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Adviser on Women, 7 Place de Fontenoy, Paris 75700, France. Tel: 33-1-4568-3814; Fax: 33-1- 4065-9871.
United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Adviser on Women and Agriculture, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Centre William Rappard, 154 Rue de Lausanne, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Adviser on Women, 3 United Nations Plaza, UNICEF House, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A. Tel: 212-326- 7000; Fax: 212-888-7465.
United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW). P.O. Box 21747, Calle Cesar Nicolas, Penson No. 102-A, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Adviser on Women, Population, and Development, 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A. Tel: 212-297-5141; Fax: 212-297-4907.
World Health Organization (WHO). Adviser on Women, Health, and Development, CH 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. Tel: 41-22-791-2111; Fax: 41-22-791-0746.
B. Non-Governmental Organizations
African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies. Kairaba Avenue, K.S.M.D., Banjul, Gambia.
Amnesty International. International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ, U.K. Tel: 44-71-413-5500; Fax: 44-71-965-1157. Or 322 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10001, U.S.A. Tel: 212-807-8400; Fax: 212-463-9193.
Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights. 180 Brixton Road, London SW9 6AT, U.K. Tel: 44-71-582-4040.
Annual Review of Population Law. Harvard Law School Library, Cambridge, MA 02138 U.S.A. Publishes the Annual Review. Tel: 617-495-9623; Fax: 617-495-4449.
Arab Women's Solidarity Association (AWSA). 25 Murad Street, Giza 12211, Egypt. Tel: 202-723-976.
Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development. Asia Pacific Development Centre, Pesiaran Duta, P.O. Box 12224, 50770 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: 603-255- 0648/255-0649; Fax: 603-254-1371.
Asia Pacific International Women's Rights Action Watch. 2nd floor, Block f, Anjung FELDA, Jalan Maktab, 54000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: 603-291-3292; Fax: 603- 292- 9958.
Asian Women's Human Rights Council. P.O. Box 190, 1099 Manila, Philippines. TeleFax: 632-921-5571/999-437; Fax: 632-911-0513/0535.
Asian Womennews. AWHRC, P.O. Box 190 Manila, Philippines. TeleFax: 632-921- 5571/999-437; Fax: 632-911-0513/0535.
Association of African Women for Research and Development. B.P. 3304, Dakar, Senegal. Publishes Echo in French and English.
Association for Women in Development. Women's Program Office, Virginia Tech, 1060 Litton Reaves Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0334 U.S.A. Publishes a newsletter. Tel: 703-231-3765; Fax: 703-231-6741.
Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA). P.O. Box 422, Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago. Publishes CAFRA News quarterly in English and Novedades in Spanish. Tel: 809-663-8670; Fax: 809-663-9684.
Center for Reproductive Health Law and Policy. 120 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, U.S.A. Tel: 212-514-5534/5; Fax: 212-514-5538.
Centre for Women's Global Leadership. Douglas College, 27 Clifton Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, U.S.A. Tel: 908-932-8782; Fax: 908-932-1180.
Change. P.O. Box 824, London SE24 9JS, U.K. Tel/Fax: 44-71-277-6187.
Comisión para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Centroamérica (CODEHUCA) (Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America). Apartado Postal 189, Paseo de los Estudiantes, San José, Costa Rica. Tel: 506-34-59-70; Fax: 506-34- 29-35.
Comité Latinamericano para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer (CLADEM) (Latin American Committee for Defense of Women's Rights). Apartado Postal 11-0470, Lima, 11 Peru.
Equality Now. P.O. Box 20646, Columbus Circle Station, New York, NY 10023, U.S.A. Tel/Fax: 212-586-0906.
Human Rights Internet. University of Ottawa, 57 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario, KIN 6N5, Canada. Publishes Internet Reporter and The Tribune. Tel: 613-564-3492; Fax: 613-564-4054.
Human Rights Watch. Women's Rights Project, 1922 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005-1202, U.S.A. Publishes reports on fact-finding missions in state violations of women's rights. Tel: 202-371-6592; Fax: 202-371-0124.
Institute of Women's Law. Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo, Karl Johans gt. 47, 0162 Oslo, Norway. Tel: 47-22-859-465; Fax: 47-22-859-466.
Institute for Women, Law and Development. 733 15th Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005, U.S.A. Tel: 202-393-3663; Fax: 202-393-3664.
Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios Legales Alternativos (ILEA) (Inter-American Legal Services Association). A.A. 077844, Calle 38 #16-45, Bogatá, Colombia. Publishes Human Rights Working Paper in English. Tel: 571-288-4772/245-5995; Fax: 571-288- 4854.
Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children. 147 Rue de Lausanne, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. Tel: 41-22-731-2420/732- 0821; Fax: 41-22-738-1823.
Inter-American Institute of Human Rights. Women's Program, Apartado Postal 10.081, 1000 San José, Costa Rica. Tel: 506-340-404; Fax: 506-34-09-55.
International Alliance of Women. 1 Lycavittou Street, Athens, 106 72 Greece.
International Centre for Ethnic Studies. 8 Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka. Publishes Thatched Patio. Tel: 94-1-698-048/685-085/694-664; Fax: 94-1-696-618/449-875.
International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (Interights). 5-15 Cromer Street, London WC1H 8LS, U.K. Publishes Interights Bulletin. Tel: 44-71-278-3230; Fax: 44-71-278-4334.
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). P.O. Box 160, CH-1216, Countrin, Geneva, Switzerland. Publishes reports on fact-finding missions into state violations of women's rights and the ICJ Review. Tel: 41-22-788-4747; Fax: 41-22-788-4880.
International Council of Women. Avenue Louise 183, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: 32-2- 647-0905.
International Human Rights Law Group. 1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005 U.S.A. Publishes The Docket, and periodic reports on UN protection of women's human rights. Tel: 202-659-5023; Fax: 202-232-6731.
International League of Human Rights. 432 Park Avenue South, Suite 1103, New York, NY 10016, U.S.A. Tel: 212-684-1221; Fax: 212-684-1696.
International Service for Human Rights. Case postale 16, 1 Rue de Varembé, CH 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland. Publishes Human Rights Monitor in English and French. Tel: 41-22- 647-0905.
International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW). Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota, 301-19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455, U.S.A. Publishes Women's Watch and an annual report on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Tel: 612-625-2505; Fax: 612-625-6351.
International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic. City University of New York, School of Law, 65-21 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11367, U.S.A. Tel: 718-575-4329; Fax: 718- 575-4482.
International Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC). 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A. Publishes Tribune in English, French, and Spanish. Tel: 212-687-8633; Fax: 212-661-2704.
ISIS International. Casilla 2067-Correo Centra, Santiago, Chile. Publishes the Women's Health Journal in English and Revista de Salud in Spanish. Tel: 562-633-4582; Fax: 562-638-3142; E-mail: isis@ax.apc.org.
Japanese Association of International Women's Rights. Bunkyo Women's College, 1196 Kamekubo, Oimachi, Iruma-gun, Saitama, 356 Japan. Publishes International Women in Japanese. Tel: 81-0492-61-6488; Fax: 81-0492-64-1150.
Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Delinquency (ILANUD). Program on Justice and Gender, O.I.J., San José, Costa Rica. Tel: 506-21-38-86; Fax: 506-33-71-75.
Lawyers Collective. Jalaram Jyot, 4th floor, 63 Janmabhoomi Marg (Ghoga Street), Fort, Bombay 400 001 India. Publishes The Lawyers Collective. Tel: 91-22-283-0957; Fax: 91-22-287-5033.
Match International Center. 1102-200 Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1L5 Canada. Publishes Match, in English and French. Tel: 613-238-1312; Fax: 613-238-6867.
Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (Studie en Informatie-centrum Mensenrechten-SIM). Domplein 24, 3512 JE Utrecht, Netherlands. Publishes SIM Newsletter in English. Tel: 31-30-39-40-33.
Physicians for Human Rights. Women's Rights Program, 100 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116, U.S.A. Publishes The Record. Tel: 617-695-0041; Fax: 617-695-0307.
Profamilia Servicios Legales Para Mujeres (Profamilia Legal Services for Women). Profamilia, Calle 34, No. 14-52, Bogotá, Colombia. Publishes Profamilia and Mujeres en Accion (Women in Action) in Spanish. Tel: 57-1-287-2100; Fax: 57-1-287-5530.
Reproductive Rights Project. Development Law and Policy Program, Columbia University, School of Public Health, 60 Haven Avenue, B-3, New York, NY 10032, U.S.A. Tel: 212-781-8831; Fax: 212-305-7024.
Response Directory of International Networking Resources on Violence Against Women and Children. 4136 Leland Street, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, U.S.A. Publishes Response.
Sociedad Mexicana pro Derechos de la Mujer, Alpina, 37, Tizapan, San Angel, 01090 México, DF, Mexico. Tel/Fax: 52-5-50-76-71.
Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights. College of Law, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0040, U.S.A. Tel: 513-556-0093; Fax: 513-556-6265.
Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Project. Suite 204, Stemar House, P.O. Box UA 171, Union Avenue, Harare, Zimbabwe. Publishes a newsletter. Tel: 263-4-729-151; Fax: 263-4-731-901/2.
Women in Law and Development in Africa. Suite 204, Stemar House, P.O. Box UA 171, Union Avenue, Harare, Zimbabwe. Publishes a newsletter. Tel: 263-4-729-151; Fax: 263-4-731-901/2.
Women Living Under Muslim Laws. International Solidarity Network, Bolle Postal 23-3- 34790 Grabels (Montpellier) France. Fax: 33-67-45-25-47. Coordination office/Asia, 18-A Mian Mir Rd., Po Moghalpura, Lahore 54860, Pakistan; Shirkat Gah, 14/300 (27-A), Nisar Road, Lahore, Cantt., Pakistan. Tel: 92-42-372-414; Fax: 92-42-874-914. Sends out urgent notices on violations of women's rights and publishes Newsheet.
Women's Exchange Programma International. Mathenesserlaan 177, 3014 HA or P.O. Box 25 096, 3001 HB Rotterdam, Netherlands. Tel: 31-10-436-0166; Fax: 31-10-436-0043.
Women's Forum '95. NGO Planning Committee, 777 United Nations Plaza, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A. Tel: 212-986-0987; Fax: 212-986-0821; E-mail: ngoforum95@igc.apc.org.
Women's International Network (WIN), 187 Grant Street, Lexington, MA 02173, U.S.A. Publishes WIN News. Tel: 617-862-9431.
Ahmed, Ramadan A.
"Women in Egypt and the Sudan." In Women in Cross-Cultural
Perspective, ed. Leonare Loeb Adler. Chapter 9. New York: Praeger, 1991.
Covers the similarities and differences between Egyptian and Sudanese women in the fields of infancy and childhood, education, marriage and divorce and career opportunities.
Akeb, Fatiha and Abdelaziz, Malika. "Algerian Women Discuss the Need for Change." In Women and the Family in the Middle East: New voices of change, ed. Elizabeth Fernea. Pp. 8-26. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985.
Ali, Parveen Shankat. Status of Women in the Muslim World: A Study of the feminist movements in Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan. Lahore: Aziz Publishers, 1975.
Contains the following chapters: 1. The Position of Women in Islam, 2. Feminist Movements, 3. Education, 4. Social and Cultural Status, 5. Modern Trends.
Arebi, Saddeka. Women and Words in Saudi Arabia: The Politics of literary discourse. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
A landmark in Arab women studies by a Saudi woman professor of anthropology. Since the word has played a very important role in the Arab culture and history, the author of this important book explained how the Saudi women writers use words as a means to counter the language of power and aesthetics as a political strategy for revisions of concepts, ideas and institutions that are used to control them.
Atiya, Nayra. Khulkhal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1982.
The oral history of five Egyptian poor women. Their personal histories reflect the hardships, frustrations, and injustices to which a major segment of Egyptian women are subjected. This is a pioneer work using oral history method for studying women in the Middle East.
Attir, Mustafa O. "Ideology, Value Changes and Women's Social Position in Libyan Society." In Women and the Family in the Middle East, ed. Elizabeth Fernea. Pp. 121-133. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1985.
Badran, Margot. Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
"This is a book about Egyptian women and the feminism they created. Egyptian feminist women imagined a dynamic gender culture within a rethought Islam and a reconstructed nation... the story of women's agency and the insistence upon empowerment-of themselves, their families, and their nation. It is their story, constructed out of their own narratives and records, aiming to convey the process and vision of feminism. It is a story of transcendence-the transcendence of patriarchal and colonial containment-and triumphs, and of unfinished business, of a journey began."-The author.
Brooks, Geraldine. Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden world of Islamic women. New York: Doubleday, 1995. This is the author's journey through the Middle East, which she made with the goal of answering one question: Islam did not have to mean oppression of women, so why were so many Muslim women oppressed?
Calling the Equality Bluff: Women in Israel , ed. Barbara Swirski and Marilyn P. Safi. New York: Teachers' College Press of Columbia University, 1993.
"[This book] was designed to present readers with a broad perspective on women's experience in contemporary Israeli society and an insight into some of the institutions which have helped to shape that experience. The chapters represent scholarship by the leading experts in their fields... [They] represent 'the state of the art' with regard to Israeli feminist concerns vis-a-vis women in Israel."
Doumato, Eleanor Abdella. "Arabian Woman: Religion, work, and cultural ideology in the Arabian Peninsula from the nineteenth century to the age of Abd al-Aziz'' (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1989).
"This study is concerned with the activities and occupations of women in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Bahrain, Kuwait and Nejd. Women's access to religious worship and learning, professional occupations of sorcery and healing, and productive occupations are discussed in the context of the interplay between Islam, Wahhabi beliefs and the ideology of women's modesty, with close attention paid to ethnicity, race, and economic context."
El-Saadawi, Nawal. "Women's resistance in the Arab World and in Egypt." In Women in the Middle East, ed. Haleh Afshar. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. Chapter 7.
Faith and Freedom: Women's human rights in the Muslim World, ed. Mahnaz Afkhami. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1995.
This book is about Muslim women's quest for rights. It is in part the outcome of the Washington Dialogue, a conference on Religion, Culture, and Women's Human Rights in the Muslim World, organized by the Sisterhood Is Global Institute in Washington, D.C. in September 1994. The aim of the Conference was to bring the views of the women from the Muslim World to the international debate on women's human rights.
Faris, Mohamed A. and Khan, Mahmood H. Egyptian Women in Agricultural Development: An Annotated bibliography. Boulder, London: Lynne Rienner, 1994.
Consists of four parts. Part I: General Survey. Part II: Social Aspects. Part III: Economic Aspects. Part IV: Policy Aspects.
Farouk-Sluglett, Marion. "Liberation or Repression: Pan-Arab nationalism and the women's movement in Iraq." In Iraq: Power and Society, ed. Derek Hopwood, et. al. Pp. 51-73. Reading: published for St. Antony's College, Oxford, by Ithaca Press, 1993.
Feminism and Islam: Legal and literary perspectives, ed. Mai Yamani. New York: New York University Press, 1996.
"This book brings together renowned women researchers and academics-historians, political scientists, lawyers, sociologists, social anthropologists and literary critics-who examine the phenomenon of feminism within the Islamic cultural framework. There is already a wide range of theories and expressions of behaviour related to feminism worldwide: legal feminism, Marxist feminism, cultural feminism, liberal feminism, post-modern feminism... `Feminists do not all think the same way or even about the same kinds of problems.' This book adds yet another layer by introducing a feminism which is `Islamic' in its form and content."-Mai Yamani.
Gender and National Identity: Women and politics in Muslim societies, ed. Valentine M. Maghadam. London: Zed Books, 1994. (Published for United Nations University Institute for Developmental Economics Research.)
An important book on the Woman Question in political movements, especially in Algeria, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran and Palestine.
Gendering the Middle East: Emerging perspectives, ed. Deniz Kandiyote. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996.
"The book explores the extent to which gender analysis has succeeded in challenging established views of culture, society, politics and literary production in the Middle East." (Preface)
Gerami, Shahin. Women and Fundamentalism: Islam and Christianity. New York, London: 1996.
This study combines comparative, qualitative, and quantitative techniques to chart women's views of their social status as formulated within fundamentalist discourse in Iran, Egypt and the United States.
Goodwin, Jane. Price of Honor: Muslim women lift the veil of silence on the Islamic World. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1994.
"Time after time, I found that the male militants I interviewed during my ten-country tour had been educated in the United States and frequently had been radicalized during their time in the West. Initially, I did not understand why. What was apparent, however, was that a neo-conservative wave of self-styled religious liberalists had began attacking Islam from within, and by doing so, were changing the world in which they live, especially for women, and were frequently reaching outside it."-The author.
Huda Sha`rawi. Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian feminist.. Translated, edited and introduced by Margot Badran. London: Virago Press, 1986.
Memoirs of Huda Sha`rawi, the leading Egyptian woman activist (1879-1947).
Helie-Lucas, Marie-Aimée. "Women's Struggles and Strategies in the Rise of Fundamentalism in the Muslim World: From entryism to internationalism." In Women in the Middle East, ed. Haleh Afshar. Chapter 12. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.
Hijab, Nadia. Womanpower: The Arab debate on women at work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
"Women in the Arab world, as in the rest of the world, have faced one form or another of discrimination on account of their sex for centuries. This sets them apart, whether one likes it or not, and makes it important to examine their situation. Furthermore, in the Arab world today, some of the most heated debates are on women's role in society. To what extent should they be involved in the process of development and the modern work sector? To what extent will that affect their traditional roles as wives and mothers? The debate reveals the resistance of some to changing women's roles, and the conviction of others that, unless there is change, Arab society will find it difficult to move forward, at the economic and political levels as well as at the social level."-Preface
Hoffman, Valerie J. "An Islamic Activist: Zaynab al-Ghazali." In Women and the Family in the Middle East, ed. Elizabeth Fernea. Pp. 233-254. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985.
Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives, ed. Rebecca J. Cook. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994.
This book explores how the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the supporting provisions and institutions of international human rights law could become an effective instrument in the quest for women's equality, protection and individual dignity.
Hussain, Farida and Kamelia Radwan. "The Islamic Revolution and Women's Quest for the Qu'ranic Model." In Muslim Women, ed. Freda Hussain. Chapter 2. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984.
Identity Politics and Women: Cultural reassertions and feminisms in international perspective, ed. Valentine M. Moghadam. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994.
Part One consists of five general chapters on the theoretical comparative and historical aspects of the identity politics as related to women. Part Two contains 13 papers of country case studies, eight of which are on Middle Eastern countries. Part Three consists of three chapters on dilemmas and strategies of identity politics and women.
Kapchan, Deborah A. Gender on the Market: Moroccan women and the revoicing of tradition. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.
A study of Moroccan women working in the marketplaces of Morocco, their language, customs, behavior and world views.
Kawar, Amal. Daughters of Palestine: Leading women of the Palestinian National Movement. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.
"The subject of this study, the Palestinian women's political leadership, consists of two groupings: those women who lived in the Palestinian diaspora and led the General Union of Palestinian women and those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who led various women's organizations. The vast majority of the women are officially part of the PLO and its constituent factions, but a few maintain their leadership roles through well-known women's charitable societies. Most, however, are familiar only within their own organizations and local communities, and they are almost completely outside the limelight. All have been politically committed and involved in the national movement since their youth, yet their history has been largely unrecorded and unnoticed. It is with this realization that I set out to illuminate the collective experiences of these women from the early months of their youth, when they first became drawn to public life."-The author.
Khamsin Collective. Women in the Middle East. London: Zed Books, 1987.
Contains the following articles:
An historical review of women's status in Tunisia from the early history of the country up to modern times. Chapter five covers the most recent period of independence and the new emancipation and the issuance of the new Personal Status Code in 1956.
Leila, Ahmed "Early Feminist Movements in Turkey and Egypt." In Muslim Women, ed. Freda Hussain. Chapter 5. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984.
Macleod, Arleme Elaine. Accommodating Protest: Working women, the new veiling, and change in Cairo. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
"The dramatic and controversial symbolism of the new veils... offers the chance to explore the complicated interactions of tradition and modernity from women's perspective and ultimately provides the chance to capture the complex and often ambivalent ways in which women react to their inequality and try to struggle against it."-Preface.
Malti-Douglas, Fedwa. Men, Women and God(s): Nawal El-Saadawi and Arab feminist poetics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
This is a biography of Nawal El-Saadawy, the Egyptian novelist, writer and feminist and her important role in the Arab women feminist movement.
Marshall, Susan Elaine. "The Power of the Veil: The Politics of female status in North Africa." (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, 1980).
A study of the degree to which women are integrated into the modern sector of the society and includes measures of female literacy, educational achievement, labor force participation and fertility. The study covers Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
Mernissi, Fatima. Beyond the Veil: Male-Female dynamics in modern Muslim society. Revised ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
Consists of two parts. Part I: The Traditional Muslim View of Women and their place in the social order. Part II: Anomic effects of modernization on male-female dynamics. The Conclusion: Women's liberation in Muslim countries.
Mernissi, Fatima. Doing Daily Battle: Interviews with Moroccan women, translated by Mary Jo Lakeland. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1988.
This well known Moroccan feminist tried to answer the questions: How does Morocco appear through the words of its women? Is it a familiar Morocco that is the same as that described by men, or is it an unknown Morocco? What are the problems and struggles that emerge from the female views?
Mernissi, Fatima. The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist interpretation of women's rights in Islam, translated by Mary Jo Lakeland. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1991.
"Any man who believes that a Muslim woman who fights for her dignity and right to citizenship excludes herself from the umma and is a brainwashed victim of Western propaganda is a man who misunderstands his own religious heritage, his own cultural identity... We Muslim women can walk into the modern world with pride, knowing that the quest for dignity, democracy, and human rights, for full participation in the political and social affairs of our country, stems from no imported Western values, but is a true part of the Muslim tradition."-The author.
Mernissi, Fatima. Women's Rebellion and Islamic Memory. London: Zed Books, 1996.
"This book attempts to understand from different angles the puzzling question... Why on earth is the Arab World so hostile to women? Why can it not see women as a key force for development building?"-The author.
Middle Eastern Muslim Women Speak, ed. Elizabeth Warnack Fernea and Basima Qattan Berzirgan. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977.
A classic in Middle Eastern women's studies. A collection of original and translated articles, short stories and biographical sketches on various subjects, authors and political women activists from several Middle Eastern countries.
Moghadam, Valentine M. Modernizing Women: Gender and social change in the Middle East. Boulder, London: L. Rienner, 1993.
"This book has analyzed the gender dynamics of some of the major social change processes in the Middle East, North Africa, and Afghanistan-economic development and the expansion of wage employment, political and social revolutions, the demographic transition, changes in family structure, the rise and expansion of Islamist movements, and civil war and political conflict. In doing so, I have tried to show that the analyses of economic, political and cultural developments within societies are incomplete..." The author.
Moghissi, Haideh. "Women in the Resistance Movement in Iran." In Women in the Middle East, ed. Haleh Afshar. Chapter 9. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.
Muslim Women's Choices: Religious belief and social reality, ed. Camillia El-Salh and Judy Mabro. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 1994.
"The papers in this book provide us with insights into the complexity of Islam and the diverse lives of Muslim women, which will be of interest to social scientists concerned with gender and ideology. The book will also be of relevance to those working towards a greater understanding of non-western cultures and societies, an understanding which should aim to explain without being apologetic, and to be critical without being patronising."
Nelson, Cynthia. Doria Shafik, Egyptian Feminist: A Woman apart. Gainsville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 1996.
This is the story of an Egyptian woman who wanted her life "to be a work of art." It is the story of one woman's struggle against the conservative forces within her society-whether cultural, religious or political-that opposed the full equality of women. The author is a renowned American professor of Anthropology who has been lecturing and writing for the last thirty years about women in the Middle East.
Paidar, Parvin. Women and the Political Process in Twentieth Century Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
"The objectives of this book in providing detailed information and comprehensive analysis on women's formal position in the twentieth-century Iran are twofold: to challenge the marginalisation of gender issues within the mainstream Iranian studies, and to expose some of the prevalent mis-conceptions about the role and place of women in Iranian society."-(Preface).
Rahman, Afzular. Role of Muslim Women in Society. London: Seerah Foundation, 1986.
A presentation of the traditional Islamic conservative view of women's role in Muslim society.
Rassam, Amal. "Political Ideology and Women in Iraq: Legislation and Cultural Constraints." In Women and Development in the Middle East, ed. Joseph Jabbra and Nancy Jabbra. Pp. 82-95. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992.
Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, identity and power, ed. Fatma Müge Göçek and Shiva Balaghi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
Ten essays on Iran, Turkey, Israel, the Occupied Territories, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco. Each of the essays takes a different approach in analyzing the influences that bear on the ways gender is perceived, experienced, constructed and reconstructed using personal narrative, literary critique, ethnography, history and sociology.
Rein, Natalie. Daughters of Rachel: Women in Israel. New York: Penguin Books, 1980.
"Against the background of the Jewish experience, [the author] shows how the promise of the first Aliyah, the early kibbutzim and the liberation struggles changed as the reality of Israel and Zionism demanded the perpetuation of traditional female roles. What she describes is a complex, multi-faceted and intrinsically male-oriented society where women, like their sisters elsewhere, are still trying to find themselves and establish their own identities."
The Right to Know: Human rights and access to reproductive health information ed. Sandra Coliner. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.
An important book which "focuses on the crucial role that access to information plays in enabling people to make informed decisions about their family and private lives. Governmental interference with, and failure to provide, information has a devastating effect on the health of women and their families, and on the rights of women to dignity, equality and life itself."
Russel, Mona L. "The Female Brain Drain: The State and development in Egypt." In Women and Development in the Middle East, ed. Joseph Jabbra and Nancy Jabbra. Pp. 122-143. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992.
Safir, Marilyn and Izraeli, Dafna. "Growing Up Female: A Life-span perspective on women in Israel." In Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective, ed. Leonare Loeb Adler. Chapter 8. New York: Praeger, 1991.
Covers women's status in the Israeli society as a social problem, conflict between traditionalism and modernity as related to women's status, the family context and the life cycle, military service, education and women at work.
Sanasarian, Eliz. "The Politics of Gender and Development in the Islamic Republic of Iran." In Women and Development in the Middle East, ed. Joseph Jabbra and Nancy Jabbra. Pp. 56-68. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992.
Schaefer, Susan. "Impediments to Empowerment: Moroccan women and the agencies." In Women and Development in the Middle East, ed. Joseph Jabbra and Nancy Jabbra. Pp. 111-121. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992.
Shaaban, Bouthaina. Both Right and Left: Arab women talk about their lives. London: The Women's Press, 1988.
Interviews with Arab women from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Algeria by a Syrian feminist activist who included her personal story of struggling for her liberation in the introduction, "An Arab Woman Saying `No'."
Social Science Research and Women in the Arab World. London: Frances Pinter Publishers, 1984. (In cooperation with UNESCO, Paris).
"The book presents... seven studies... by women specialists from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Sudan, which describe the situation of women and research in their respective countries, address theoretical and methodological issues, and present their views on the objectives and priorities for future research to be undertaken. In addition, the book includes a survey of research trends on women in different social and human sciences disciplines and of themes dealt with, followed by a select bibliography of Arab, English and French language sources."-Introduction.
Sonbol, Amira El-Azhary. Women, the Family and Divorce Laws in Islamic History. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996.
Sophie, Bessis and Souhayr, Behassen. Femmes du Maghreb: L'enjeu. Paris: J.C. Lattès, 1992.
On Islamic movements in North Africa and their effects on women's social, political and personal lives by two feminists.
Strum, Philippa. The Women Are Marching: The Second sex and the Palestinian Revolution. New York: Lawrence Hills Books, 1992.
An in-depth study based on the author's field work of the role of Palestinian women in the Intifada. The author also studied the effects of that uprising on the women, families and the economy as well as the relationship between nationalism, fundamentalism and feminism in the Palestinian setting.
Sullivan, Earl L. Women in Egyptian Public Life. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1986.
A sociological study of Egyptian parliamentary women, presidential wives, opposition women, women in business and women of Egypt's political and economic elite.
Talhami, Ghada Hashem. The Mobilization of Muslim Women in Egypt. Miami, Florida: University Press of Florida, 1996.
It is the author's view that little has been written on Middle Eastern women's activism and change. Her study presents the entire historical background of modern Egyptian feminism based on the writings of Muslim advocates, as well as external analysis of Islamic movements. She also studied the changes in the status of Christian women in a society that is influenced by Islamic militancy.
"Theocracy, Human Rights and Women: The Iranian experience." Proceedings of a One-Day conference, October 30, 1993, Sponsored by the Department of Economics and Finance, School of Business Administration, Montclair State University, 1993.
Contains the following short presentations:
Tlemcani, R. "The Rise of Algerian Women: Cultural dualism and multi-party politics." In Women and Development in the Middle East, ed. Joseph Jabbra and Nancy Jabbra. Pp. 69-81. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992.
Wetzel, Janice Wood. "The World of Women." In Pursuit of Human Rights. New York: New York University Press, 1993.
An in-depth commentary on the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which is often called the Magna Carta for the human rights of women. The author also studies a number of other documents, declarations, charters and covenants supportive of women's human rights.
Women and the Israeli Occupation: The Politics of change, ed. Tamar Mayer. London, New York: Routledge, 1994.
A collection of papers by Israeli and Palestinian writers, on the problems of Palestinian women under occupation.
Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting boundaries in sex and gender, ed. Nikki R. Keddie and Beth Baron. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
"The volume deals with major aspects of Middle Eastern women's history, and the theme of male and female boundaries runs throughout. The chapters, most written by historians or using a historical approach, suggest that gender boundaries in the Middle East have been neither fixed nor immutable."
Women in the Middle East: Perceptions, realities and struggle for liberation, ed. Haleh Afshar. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.
"This collection of essays is about exploding a myth and presenting a reality which, although sometimes stark, is always vibrant. Middle Eastern women, like women everywhere, have for long found effective strategies for accommodating and playing a fulfilling role within marriage, and even coping with polygamy. At the same time they have taken up the struggle for liberation and economic and political independence."
Women in the Muslim World: A Bibliography of books and articles primarily in the English language, compiled by Herbert L. Bodman. Providence, R.I.: Association of Middle East Women's Studies, 1990.
Women in Turkish Society, ed. Nermin Abadan-Unat in collaboration with Deniz Kandiyoti and Mubeccel B. Kiray. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981.
This volume gives the reader a multi-faceted picture reflecting the problems and dilemmas encountered by the women in one rapidly changing society. It contains fourteen chapters by different authors, organized into four sections. Section I: Population, Health, Nutrition. Section II: Labor Force Participation, Education. Section III: Continuity and Change. Section IV: Religion and Political Behavior.
Women, Islam and the State, ed. Deniz Kandiyoti. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991.
"This book examines the relationship between Islam, the nature of state projects and the position of women in the modern nation states of the Middle East and South Asia. Placing the state at the centre of our analysis may require some justification. Despite the growing interest in recent 'Islamisation' policies adopted by a wide range of governments and in the implications for women, studies of women in Muslim societies have by and large neglected the role of the state and remained relatively untouched by the growing body of feminist scholarship on the subject. The latter highlights the reproduction of gender inequalities through various dimensions of state policy, through 'gendered' constructions of citizenship and through the dynamics of incorporation of national and ethnic collectivities into modern states."-The editor.
Women of the Arab World: The Coming challenge. Papers of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association Conference, ed. Nahid Toubia, trans. Nahed El-Gamal. London: Zed Books, 1988.
"[Women] from widely disparate parts of the Middle East and North Africa introduce the diverse problems women experience in particular countries - the Sudan, Tunisia, the Yemen, Lebanon, and Palestine. A valuable concluding section provides information about the Arab Women's Solidarity Association itself, and its perspectives on the issues around which they believe Arab women ought to organise if their position in these transitional societies is to be radically improved."
Zuhur, Sherifa. Revealing Revealing. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.
The author studies the contemporary phenomenon of veiling in Egypt through interviews she conducted with scores of veiled and unveiled Egyptian women. The book provides the views and the reasons why these women favor or oppose veiling.
*This paper was originally presented at the Middle East Librarians Association Annual Meeting, Providence, Rhode Island, November 1996
1Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East . Edited by Valentine M. Moghadam (Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 1993), 10-12. See also: Muslim Women's Choices: Religious Belief and Social Reality , ed. Camilla Fawzi El-Salh and Judy Mabro (Providence: Berg, 1994), 20-21.
2Abdulaziz M. Al-Hazzaa, "Scenario Projections for Women in Saudi Arabia: Their Changing status, educational and employment opportunities by the year 2010.'' (Ph.D. Diss., University of Minnesota, 1993), 70-71.
3 Winifred Woodhull, Transfigurations of the Maghreb (Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press, 1993), 77.
4Woodhull, Transfigurations of the Maghreb , 79
5 Evelyne Accad, "Women's Voices From the Maghreb, 1945 to the Present,'' in Arabic Literature in North Africa (Cambridge: Dar Mahjar, 1982).
6Identity, Politics and Women , ed. Valentine M. Moghadam (Boulder: Westview Press, 1993), 176-77.
7"Scenario Projections for Women in Saudi Arabia: Their changing status, educational and employment opportunities by the year 2010'' (Ph.D. Diss., University of Minnesota, 1993), 322.
8Saddeka Arebi, Women and Words in Saudi Arabia: The Politics of literary discourse (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 1.
9Arebi, Women and Words in Saudi Arabia , 2.
10"Gender Anthropology in the Middle East,'' Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 1 (1991): 104.
11Women in Turkish Society , ed. Nermin Abadan-Unat, in collaboration with Deniz Kandiyoti and M. B. Kiray (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981), 15.
12Yeim Arat, "Toward a Democratic Society: The Women's movement in Turkey in the 1980's,'' Women's Studies International Forum 17, no. 2/3 (1994): 241-248.
13Arat, "Toward a Democratic Society,'' 244-245.
14The Liberation of Women: a document in the history of Egyptian feminism , trans. Samiha Sidhom Peterson (Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press, 1992)
15Joan Wucher King, Historical Dictionary of Egypt: African Historical Dictionaries, No. 36 (London: The Scarecrow Press, 1984), 137.
16King, Historical Dictionary of Egypt , 564.
17Women's Studies International Forum 11, no. 5. (1988): 465-483.
18Doria Shafik, Egyptian feminist : a woman apart (Gainesville, Fla.: University Press of Florida, ©1996)
19Margot Badran, Feminists, Islam and Nation (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, ©1995)
20Soha Abd al-Kader, Egyptian Women in a Changing Society, 1899-1987 (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1987)
21Ghada Hashem Talhami, The Mobilization of Muslim Women in Egypt (Gainsville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 1996)
22Talhami, The Mobilization of Muslim Women in Egypt , 147
23Women in Israel: Studies of Israeli society IV, Publication Series of the Israel Sociological Society, ed. Yael Azmon and Dafna Izraeli (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993), 18-19.
24Calling the Equality Bluff , ed. Marilyn Safir and Barbara Swanski, (New York: Teachers College Press, ©1993) 19-20.
25Valentine M. Moghadam, Modernizing Women: Gender and social change in the Middle East (Boulder: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 1993), 23-24.
26Phillipa Strum, The Women Are Marching: The Second sex and the Palestinian Revolution (New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1992)
27Strum, Phillipa, The Women Are Marching , 1-2.
28Palestinian Women: Identity and experience , ed. Ebba Augustin (London: Zed Books, 1993), x.
29Harvard Journal of International Law 149 (1994): 149-200. A condensed version of this essay was published in Arab Studies Quarterly 16, no. 1 (Winter 1994): 55-73.
30Geraldine Ferraro, "Human Rights for Women,'' New York Times (June 10, 1993): A21.
31Women's Studies International Forum 17, no. 6 (1994): 563-578.