Women in the Middle East

1. Women in the Middle East • The 18-nation study, led by the US-based Freedom House in 2010, found that on the whole, Middle Eastern women still suffer from a "substantial deficit in women’s rights" described as the "most severe" on earth.

2. http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/269.pdf

3. Economic Gender bias • This is often justified by the fact that the communities in the Middle East are shaped upon one gender having distinct responsibilities. • Men have full responsibility to support their families with the food and supplies they need and therefore they have to work • Women have to take care of the house and children. • women and girls are often are the ones that suffer the most poverty. • women often are paid less • In Saudi Arabia, 78.3% of unemployed women are university graduates (mostly social science and education majors) • the lowest employment-to-population ratio for females occurs in Middle East and North Africa, 24.5 percent compared to 69.3 percent for men

5. Is it getting better economically? • In Kuwait the proportion of adult women with jobs has increased from 46 percent in 2003 to 51 percent in 2007. • Since 1992, women’s participation rate in the Saudi national labor force has nearly tripled, from 5.4% to 14.4%. • UAE’s national female participation rate is 41% • Oman’s is 25% • Bahrain’s is 34.3% • YES!!!!!

6. Cultural Gender bias • Laws against marital rape and spousal abuse are largely absent in the region • Deeply entrenched societal norms, combined with conservative interpretations of Shari'a continue to relegate women to a subordinate status • “Honor" killings persist • In April 2008, a Saudi woman was killed by her father for chatting on Facebook to a man. • It is believed that 40-50 women are killed each year in Lebanon in honor related killings. • In both Palestinian and Jordanian law men have reduced punishment for killing a female relative if she has brought dishonor to the family.

7. 19-year-old Iraqi girl • Crime: Unknown number on her cell phone • Punishment: Beaten and Shot 7 times by her husband and in-laws

8. 2 Day old Turkish baby • “My family decided to kill my baby,” • “My 55-year-old mother choked the baby with a cloth. Then, my brothers buried the baby in a hole in the garden and covered the hole with cement.” • Crime: Being born out of wedlock • Punishment: Death

9. 16 year old Turkish girl • Crime: Flirting with boys • Punishment: Beaten and buried alive by her family

10. 20 Year old Iraqi woman • Crime: socialized with the opposite sex, wore jeans, and rebelled against her father's desire for her to enter an arranged marriage • Punishment: Her father ran over his daughter with his Jeep Cherokee

11. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7420232n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBoxhttp://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7420232n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox • http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/honor-killings/ • http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/09/20129593754827889.html

12. Cultural Bias #2 • Some nations prohibit women from ever traveling alone • Women have the right to drive in all Arab countries except Saudi Arabia • In Jordan, a woman or child can be prohibited from leaving the country by any male relative • In Yemen, women must obtain approval from a husband or father to get an exit visa to leave the country and a woman may not take her children with her without their father's permission • In Saudi, women are segregated in public transportation

14. Is it getting better culturally? • There is a rising participation of women in both the public and private sectors, and an expansion of media communications and the Internet, both of which are creating further awareness of issues related to women, and making both men and women more open to new ideas

15. Political Gender bias • The role of women in politics in Arab societies is largely determined by the will of these countries' leaderships to support female representation and cultural attitudes towards women's involvement in public life • Women in the region are significantly underrepresented in senior positions in politics and the private sector, and in some countries they are completely absent from the judiciary • Lebanon has only partial suffrage. Proof of elementary education is required for women but not for men • Saudi Arabia: Women will be able to vote in the 2015 elections (local)

17. Is it getting Better? • Women can now vote in almost every nation in Middle East • Women are serving in parliaments in a number of countries • Implementing quotas has facilitated women’s participation in elections and government service

18. Educational Gender Bias • segregation laws exist in many universities • In the Arab family there is a tendency to pay for boys' education but not girls • girls sometimes drop out in secondary school because of early marriage • If the school environment is bad, if it is remote, unclean, and has no toilets, it is the girls who tend to give up and go back home. • Education in Arab schools in the future is likely to be split into two parts - very expensive private education, enjoyed by the better-off minority, and poor quality government education for the majority. • Should this happen, it is likely it will be the girls who suffer more - a split would be "dangerous" for girl's education.

22. Is it getting better? • The study found that women are now more likely to attend university in some Middle Eastern countries, and literacy rates among women throughout the region have continued to rise. • In Qatar and the UAE, women outnumber men in university by 3 to 1 – a sure-fire source of pressure for more rights. • 15 of 18 Arab countries have seen increases in women's literacy rates and suffrage over the past five years. • More than 60 percent of university students in Iran are women • Syria has forbidden the country's students and teachers from wearing the niqab -- the full Islamic veil that reveals only a woman's eyes -- taking aim at a garment many see as political. • http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5384993n

23. Why should we increase women’s rights in the region? • Reducing women’s fertility rates. Women with formal education are much more likely to use reliable family planning methods, delay marriage and childbearing, and have fewer and healthier babies than women with no formal education. It is estimated that one year of female schooling reduces fertility by 10 percent. The effect is particularly pronounced for secondary schooling. • Lowering infant and child mortality rates. Women with some formal education are more likely to seek medical care, ensure their children are immunized, be better informed about their children's nutritional requirements, and adopt improved sanitation practices. • Lowering maternal mortality rates. Women with formal education tend to have better knowledge about health care practices, are less likely to become pregnant at a very young age, tend to have fewer, better-spaced pregnancies, and seek pre- and post-natal care. It is estimated that an additional year of schooling for 1,000 women helps prevent two maternal deaths.

24. Continued • Protecting against HIV/AIDS infection. Girls’ education ranks among the most powerful tools for reducing girls’ vulnerability. It slows and reduces the spread of HIV/AIDS by contributing to female economic independence, delayed marriage, family planning, and work outside the home, as well as conveying greater information about the disease and how to prevent it. • Increasing women’s labor force participation rates and earnings. Education has been proven to increase income for wage earners and increase productivity for employers, yielding benefits for the community and society. • Creating intergenerational education benefits. Mothers’ education is a significant variable affecting children’s education attainment and opportunities. A mother with a few years of formal education is considerably more likely to send her children to school. In many countries each additional year of formal education completed by a mother translates into her children remaining in school for an additional one-third to one-half year.

25. How do we fix it? • International NGOs should continue the good work they've done to support civil society activities in the region. • The United States and other democracies must make the promotion of human rights and women's rights a priority in relationships with every government in the region. • The lack of democratic institutions, an independent judiciary, and freedom of association and assembly impede improvements for women. THIS MUST CHANGE!!!! • Yemen, Iraq and the Palestinian territories, however, were each found to have seen significant regression in women's rights, amid rising religious extremism or internal conflict. TARGET THESE NATIONS!!!!!!

26. Drugs • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_utPLkOGyVg • http://www.irinnews.org/film/4101/Bittersweet-Harvest