In 2011, several countries, most of them Muslim, experienced political revolutions . Citizens took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the performance of their political regimes and their standard of living . Female attendance at these events was surprisingly high and brought some hope to the advocates of women’s political rights . Women’s role in the Arab Spring was significant, especially in Yemen, Tunisia, and Egypt. Thousands of women poured onto the streets to support the demonstrations , delivering speeches, food for protests, and singing songs. They treated and nursed the injured in makeshift hospitals, ambulances, and even in their homes when people were too afraid to go to the hospital.1 Women put themselves at great risk when Tunisian police tried to repress the revolution by using security thugs to beat protesters . Women were also detained and some disappeared in Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain. For example, in Bahrain in 2011, at least nine doctors and four nurses were seized by the authorities and received sentences of five to fifteen years in prison.2 Harassment and even rape by police, militants, and protesters occurred many times during protests in several countries. For instance, in Tunisia, in the central town of Kasserine, some women were raped by police after demonstrations . In Egypt, CBS reporter Lara Logan was surrounded by more than 200 people in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and sexually assaulted. A Libyan woman named Iman Al-Obeidi told journalists that she had been raped by Al Gaddafi’s militia.3
The women who participated in demonstrations did not have anything in common except their demand for more rights and a better life. They were hoping to have their demands met after the establishment of new regimes . Faizah Sulimani, 29, one of the protesters in Yemen, stated that women’s “demands are somehow similar to men, starting with freedom, equal citizenship , and giving women a greater role in society … Women smell freedom at Change Square where they feel more welcomed than ever before. Their fellow [male] freedom fighters are showing unconventional acceptance to their participation and they are actually for the first time letting women be, and say, what they really want.”4 However, after the end of the Arab Spring , Yemen, Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt started debating what degree of rights women should gain under the new regimes . That debate did not go well in most of these countries. An Egyptian protester told Catherine Ashton, the European Union (EU) foreign policy supremo, during a visit to Tahrir Square: “The men were keen for me to be here when we were demanding that Mubarak should go. But now he has gone, they want me to go home .”5 Women in Egypt have been ignored in decision-making processes since the revolution. For example, the Constitutional Amendments Committee did not include any women, and the interim government , which was formed to administer the country during the transitional period , contained only one female minister. In 2012, at the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt, the percentage of women in the House of Representatives dropped from 13 percent at the 2010 election to 2 percent. The percentage changed after Mohamed Morsi’s government was overthrown, and increased to 15 percent elected and appointed women representatives. In Libya, the quota for women in parliament was dropped in 2012, resulting in the exclusion of large numbers of women from public decision-making and democratic political processes . Moreover, several laws have been amended to legalize discrimination against women, such as abolishing an old amendment that required men to have their first wife’s consent when marrying a second woman.6 In Tunisia, Article 28, which defined the status of women in a more religiously conservative way, was proposed by the Al Nahda political party ; however, it did not pass due to massive public rejection and demonstrations . On top of all that came the intrastate and civil wars , which made women’s standard of living much worse than before the Arab Spring in Yemen, Libya, and Syria. In both Syria and Yemen, women have been displaced with their children and have left their men, most of whom are either engaged in fighting or prevented from leaving conflict zones . The women have been struggling with poverty and exposed to exploitation , trafficking , and early and forced marriage .
The debate over women’s rights after the end of those wars is still ongoing. Despite the absence of many international organizations that promote and monitor gender equality in Libya, Syria, and Yemen, political activists , members of civil societies , and academic scholars continue to study females’ previous and current status, and keep trying to contribute positively to shaping the future of women’s social, political, and economic roles in these countries. Some of these activists argue that “Islam is the solution,” while others believe that “Secularism is the solution .” There is also a third group that advocates for more economic development and modernization as a solution to women’s gender inequality . Each group shows some evidence that supports its claim and provides excuses for the failure of some regimes that claim to be implementing Sharia 7 or secularism. Turkey has been used as a good example for both those who argue for Islam and those who espouse secularism . These groups look at Turkey through different lenses. For example, the supporters of secularism look at Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s period and consider it a successful one that...