What is the Future for Women in the Middle East?

Dr. Peggy Drexler, a sex and gender specialist and contributor to The Huffington Post, wrote a thoughtful piece ruminating on the future for women in the Middle East in lieu of the changing political climate. Her assessment is not cheerful. She highlights how in Iraq, despite Nouri Al Maliki's promise for greater political representation for women, the women currently in the Iraqi parliament were placed there by male relatives and that the one appointed female minister holds a barely-funded powerless post catering to women's issues. Moreover, in Tunisia and Egypt, despite the ouster of dictators, women in both countries have to grapple with the possibility that greater conservative elements may be voted into government with the possibility of changing progressive family codes to more restrictive religious-based laws as seen in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

"In Tunisia and Egypt, and possibly more countries to come, women helped win freedom from autocracy. But the next battle may be just beginning," concludes Drexler. Women in the Arab world are facing great risk and opportunity with the political changes taking place in their countries, but there is no doubt that gender equality for women in the region will require not only change in the political establishment, but indeed, an entire change in attitude of the men in their societies, a cultural and social shift that views women not simply as wives to be locked up behind closed doors but as participating and contributing members of society. That's not to say they haven't made strides in the past century. Indeed, among the middle class, many women have been educated, hold careers, and still raise families even in the most conservative of Arab countries (see Saudi Arabia). However, there's still a long way to go in the transformation of social attitudes among men in a mostly male-dominated society.

Fortunately, Egypt, in particular has a rich feminist history, Nawal El Saddawi serving as the modern face and voice of feminism in Egypt. Yanar Mohammed, the founder of the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), fights on behalf of the rights of Iraqi women. We can only pray that more charismatic and courageous personalities like these two women make history in other countries where women have been traditionally subjugated to the private sphere. It will be interesting to see how women's rights develops in the Middle East into the next decade.