WIDE Annual Conference 2011 – Women’s Rights and Gender Equality amidst the ‘Arab Springs’: Challenges and Lessons Learnt across Regions: Brussels, 27-28 October 2011
The Arab Spring has had a dramatic ripple effect across the region, still in upheaval to many extends. Although women were prominent actors of those upheavals, issues of non-discrimination, equality and women’s rights face difficulties to be included in the frameworks of ongoing and/or upcoming constitutional reform processes. Moreover, in many countries retaliation against women has been brutal, ranging from rapes to virginity tests to imprisonment and torture.
The Arab Spring has had a dramatic ripple effect across the region, still in upheaval to many extends. Although women were prominent actors of those upheavals, issues of non-discrimination, equality and women’s rights face difficulties to be included in the frameworks of ongoing and/or upcoming constitutional reform processes. Moreover, in many countries retaliation against women has been brutal, ranging from rapes to virginity tests to imprisonment and torture.
The international community is playing a significant role both in terms of diplomacy as well as direct support and selective media coverage. “The Arab spring” has created new international interests as well as new funding pots. What are the implications for the peoples of these countries and for women’s rights in particular?
