FEZ – Though
women across the Middle East participated actively in
the Arab Spring protests that began in late 2010, they remain second-class
citizens, even where popular uprisings managed to topple autocratic regimes.
Indeed, the Islamist governments now in power in several countries seem more
determined than the despots that they replaced to keep women out of politics.
In conducting interviews with women in the region, I am struck by their
overall pessimism. They fear the loss of their rights. They see economic
disintegration all around them, raising the possibility of a further increase
in violence. As social bonds fray, they feel increasingly vulnerable. More than
once, I heard them express the view that things were better before the
revolutions.Female representation in parliaments and government cabinets after the Arab Spring has been either absent or meager, and women activists worry that Islamist parties will implement reactionary policies that discriminate on the basis of gender. In Egypt, for example, the Freedom and Justice Party, which dominates the parliament, claims that a woman cannot become President. Egyptian women were heavily represented in the protests that brought down former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime in 2011, but they have been largely excluded from any official decision-making role ever since.
In Morocco, while there were eightwomen in the previous cabinet, today there is only one in the Islamist-led government. In January, the Islamist-dominated parliament adopted a decree lowering the age of marriage for girls from 18 to 16, a major setback. Moroccan feminists have protested vigorously, but to no avail.
Parliamentary representation for women has also taken a hit. Women hold less than 1% of seats in the current Egyptian parliament; previously, they held 12%. In Libya, a first draft of the electoral law reserved 10% of seats in the constituent assembly for women, but the quota was later abandoned.
In Tunisia, the election in 2011 brought 49 women into the 217-seat Constituent Assembly. But 42 of these women are members of Ennahda, which regards Sharia (Islamic law) as the source of legislation. Long-time Tunisian activists fear that Ennahda, which dominates the assembly, will use the presence of women MPs to restrict women’s rights.
The recent assassination of the secular Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid has raised the stakes for women there. Belaid was a voice on behalf of women’s rights, and the threat of increased political violence will focus on those who advocate secular equality for all Tunisians, including women.
Unfortunately, conservative forces in the Arab world repeatedly turn against women when political unrest spreads. In Bahrain, several women protesters have been arrested and tortured. In Yemen, the authorities call on male relatives to “tame” their women. In Tunisia, the most Westernized of the Arab countries, women have been attacked at universities and schools, and are being forced to wear the hijab. A woman who was allegedly raped by two policemen in September 2012 was charged with public indecency when she filed a complaint.
Likewise, in Egypt, women protesters face greater scrutiny than men. Those arrested by the military during the anti-Mubarak protests were subjected to virginity tests as a form of intimidation. Across the Middle East, Islamist militias have harassed, arrested, raped, and tortured women pro-democracy activists. The model of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, which imposed second-class citizenship on women, is frequently cited as a threat in Arab countries now ruled by Islamist parties.
These countries are at a crossroads. Women make up half of the Middle East’s population, and any hope of political and economic development must account for that fact. Organizations like the United Nations Development Program have repeatedly issued reports demonstrating the connection between economic decline and oppression of women. Simply put, the Arab countries will not succeed unless women are fully integrated into political and economic life.
In her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 2011, Yemeni political activist Tawakkol Karman, made the point clearly: “The solution to women’s issues can only be achieved in a free and democratic society in which human energy is liberated, the energy of both women and men together.”
Middle Eastern countries should protect and consolidate women’s rights as a way to reinforce democratic ideas and habits. They must institute the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international laws and agreements in order to eradicate gender-based discrimination and violence. The hope for women’s progress is really a hope for a decent society in which development for all is possible.
Moha Ennaji is Professor of Cultural and Gender Studies at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University and President of the International Institute for Languages and Cultures in Fez, Morocco.
阿拉伯婦女未竟的革命
儘管中東地區的婦女積極地參與了2010年末開始的阿拉伯之春起義，但她們仍是二等公民，即便在群眾起義推翻了獨裁統治的地方也是如此。事實上，如今，不少國家掌權的伊斯蘭政府比被他們取代的暴君更熱衷於將婦女排擠在政壇之外。
在採訪該地區婦女的過程中，我被她們的悲觀情緒深深地震驚了。她們擔心喪失權利。她們認為經濟崩潰隨處可見，這讓暴力進一步升級的可能性大大增加。隨著社會契約的腐蝕，她們感到越來越無助。我不止一次聽她們表示目前的狀況還不如革命之前。
阿拉伯之春後，國會和政府內閣中的女性代表要麼不存在，要麼無足輕重，婦女活動家擔心伊斯蘭政黨會採取性別歧視的反動政策。比如，在埃及，佔據議會多數的自由公正黨（Freedom and
Justice Party）宣布不能由女性出任總統。在2011年推翻前總統穆巴拉克的起義中，婦女居功至偉，但在此後的所有決策過程中都鮮有女性身影出現。
在摩洛哥，上任內閣中有八名婦女，而在今天的伊斯蘭政府中只剩下一名。1月，伊斯蘭教徒佔多數的議會採納了一項法令，將女孩適婚年齡從18歲降至16歲，這是一次大倒退。摩洛哥女性強烈抗議，但完全無用。
議會中的婦女代表也遭受了打擊。目前埃及議會的婦女代表數量不到1%﹔此前曾達到過12%。在利比亞，選舉法第一草案為婦女保留了10%的制憲大會議席，但這一配額後來被取消了。
在突尼斯，2011年的選舉將49名婦女選入了217人的制憲大會。但其中42人是復興運動黨（Ennahda）成員，該黨認為伊斯蘭教法才是合法性的源泉。突尼斯的長期活動家擔心在制憲大會佔多數的社會運動黨將利用婦女議員阻撓婦女權利。
最近發生的行刺突尼斯世俗反對派領袖貝萊德（Chokri Belaid）事件讓人擔心該國婦女的命運。貝萊德是婦女權利的擁護者，政治暴力抬頭的威脅將集中在支持所有突尼斯人（包括婦女在內）世俗平等的人頭上。
不幸的是，在政治動蕩蔓延時，阿拉伯世界的保守勢力一再反對婦女。在巴林，不少婦女示威者被逮捕並遭受嚴刑拷打。在也門，當局要求男性親屬“管教好”家中的女人。在最西方化的阿拉伯國家突尼斯，大學和學校中的女性頻頻遭襲，並被迫戴上面紗。一名據稱於2012年9月被兩名警察強奸的婦女在提起申訴時被指公開猥褻。
類似地，在埃及，女性示威者面臨著比男性更嚴格的審查。在反穆巴拉克起義期間被捕的女性需要接受貞潔測試，以此作為恐嚇手段。在整個中東，伊斯蘭軍隊騷擾、逮捕、強奸和虐待女性民主活動者。1979年伊朗伊斯蘭革命的模式——將婦女視為二等公民——被頻繁視為如今由伊斯蘭黨派執政的阿拉伯國家的一大威脅。
這些國家都面臨抉擇。婦女佔據中東人口的一半，任何政治和經濟發展希望都必須考慮到這一事實。聯合國發展計劃署等組織一再發布報告，說明經濟衰落和壓抑女性之間存在關聯。一言以蔽之，除非婦女充分融入政治和經濟生活，否則阿拉伯國家不可能獲得成功。
在2011年諾貝爾和平獎獲獎演說中，也門整治活動價卡爾曼（Tawakkol
Karman）明確指出：“婦女問題的解決方案只有在民主社會中才能達成。在民主社會中，人類能量得到了解放，女人和男人的能量都得到了解放。”
中東國家應該保護和鞏固婦女權利，以此作為強化民主思想和習慣的方式。它們必須將《世界人權宣言》和其他國際法和協定制度化，以此消滅性別歧視和暴力。婦女進步的希望就是美好社會的希望，就是一切發展皆有可能的希望。