MENA

http://ecwronline.org/?p=4575

When President Mohammed Morsi stood before the United Nations this year, he was asked about the status of women in his country and confronted with international concern regarding their status and the challenges they face. He responded to these concerns, saying that “Egyptian women have the same rights as men. There even are some men who ask to be guaranteed the same rights as women!”

Of course the President was joking. However, recent data shows the severity of the situation for women in Egypt and reveals Egypt to be first in the world as far as the deterioration of women’s rights. Those in attendance were not receptive to Morsi’s joke, finding this humor an inappropriate response to a very serious issue. The delegation hoped that President Morsi could present a plan outlining the methods and procedures intended to advance the position of women in Egypt as the first elected president after a revolution that demanded justice and equality.

The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights compiled this year’s status report on the status of Egyptian women but faced a number of challenges during the research process. The most notable of these challenges was the scarcity of information and statistics portraying the situation of women. Most writings expressed admiration for Egyptian women and their presence in society and astonishment at their participation in public work, from which they were absent for decades.

As for the approved research institutions, they are, like Egypt as a whole, facing many problems that made the intellectual production and monitoring so modest compared with the previous years. Therefore, there are neither statistics nor sufficient analytical writings available to help us. The center, like many human rights and women’s organizations in Egypt, was also under intense pressure from the Ministry of Social Affairs. The approval of many of the center’s programs was delayed by disagreements and attempts to limit the NGO’s activities or paralyze them. This situation made the report dependent upon a limited number of researchers who exerted tremendous efforts in research and documentation. The center hopes to introduce a useful report on Egyptian Women in 2012 despite these challenges.

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx  

In the link, find the report in the section: 2012, 20th Session HRC; Report: A/HRC/20/16/Add.1

http://unhcr.org.ua/attachments/article/818/UNAMA%20report_women%20AFG_2...

"Implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women law in Afghanistan, December 2012"

This research paper intends to analyze the impact on their society at large of democratization of women’s roles at home and at the workplace. Because it is important to know the past in order to understand the present, the status of women in the Maghreb countries in the pre-independence era will be presented. But the major part of the research will begin in the 1980s with the early autonomous feminist wave and continues until the present: the first decade of the 2000s.

Several international instruments have provided for women’s equality, but it was at the 1993 Vienna Conference that women’s rights became an integral part of human rights, highlighting the issue of violence against women. However, in spite of progress since then, in particular during the last few decades, women are still far from having reached the equality they have been striving for. Increased information being transmitted via the media, but also via the work done by female activists, together with increased education have led to sweeping social changes, creating awareness among women. As a result, women are increasingly breaking the taboos that used to keep them silent and submissive and are asking for help at the centers ready to aid them find solutions to their problems of violence.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/12/07/how-come-you-allow-little-girls-ge...

The political turmoil that has swept Yemen since early 2011 has overshadowed the plight of child brides such as Reem, as thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule, and security forces responded with excessive and deadly force. But, while the focus of attention both inside and outside of Yemen is understandably the political future of the country, following President Saleh’s agreement in November to cede power before elections in February, child marriages and other discrimination against women and girls in Yemen continue unabated. And while the president’s resignation topped the list of most protestors’ demand, many young demonstrators especially are calling for a wide range of reforms, including measures to guarantee equality between women and men, and an end to child marriage.

http://www.unicef.org/gender/gender_62215.html

To view this report, please click the document "Regional Overview for the Middle East and North Africa."

In 2011 the Middle East and North African Regional Office (MENARO) developed Gender Equality Profiles for all the countries in the MENA Region. The objective of the MENA gender equality profiles is to provide user-friendly, summary information on the status and situation of girls and women for all countries in the Middle East and North Africa Region.

http://www.emro.who.int/emhj-volume-15-2009/volume-15-issue-5/wife-abuse...

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to measure the prevalence, severity and type of wife abuse experienced by ever-married women attending primary health centres in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Women were interviewed in private at health centres using a questionnaire which included items from the Modified Conflict Tactic Scale, Kansas Marital Scale and the lie scale of the Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory.

Of 689 eligible women, 25.7% reported physical abuse and 32.8% emotional abuse without physical violence. Of those physically abused, 36.7% suffered minor and 63.3% severe incidents. The lifetime prevalence of abuse among the women was 57.7%. Only 36.7% of 109 abused women had informed and discussed the issue with their primary care physician.

https://freedomhouse.org/article/womens-activists-see-gains-gulf-arab-st...

Please access the home page of this site to locate this publication.

As the societies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) undertake the difficult process of enacting social and political change, the unequal status of women stands out as a particularly formidable obstacle. This study presents detailed reports and quantitative ratings on the state of women’s rights in the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the first installment of a larger project encompassing the entire MENA region, which will be completed in November 2009. Although the study indicates that a substantial deficit in women’s rights persists in every country of the Gulf region and is reflected in practically every facet of their societies, its findings also include the notable progress achieved over the last five years, particularly in terms of economic and political rights

http://mics.unicef.org/survey_archives/yemen/survey0/index.html

http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/cairodeclaration.html

The Nineteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (Session of Peace, Interdependence and Development), held in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt, from 9-14 Muharram 1411H (31 July to 5 August 1990),

Having examined the Report of the Meeting of the Committee of Legal Experts held in Tehran from 26 to 28 December, 1989;  Agrees to issue the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam that will serve as a general guidance for Member States in the Field of human rights.