International Forum: Mediterranean Women's Rights in the Aftermath of the ‘Arab Uprisings’

An important International Forum will take place in Fez from June 21 to 23. The presence of women in the "Arab Uprisings" has not resulted in marked improvement of the position of women in society.  This forum will tackle big and important issues

The international forum is hosted by the Isis Center for Women and Development and the Rabat office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stftung. The forum takes place at the Palais des Congrès in Fez from June 21 to June 23.

Women’s rights in the south of the Mediterranean have been on the rise with ups and downs. There seems to be a backlash on these rights after the Arab uprisings. In reflecting on women’s rights two years after the uprisings, many paradoxes come to mind.

On the one hand, we have witnessed a spectacular presence of women of all ages, ideologies, ethnicities and social statuses during the political mobilization of the uprisings (as has been well documented by the media).

Yet, on the other hand, and here is the first paradox, in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Kuwait, the newly elected governments have a very weak, if not a zero, representation of women. Furthermore, the political Islamization of the MENA region is a fact (with the adjectives "moderate" and "salafist" added according to the Islamic dose involved).

However, and here is the second paradox, what most advocates of women’s rights (scholars and activists) had scored through decades were also “Islamic” gains. Women’s rights advocates in the region fought to improve, not replace, Sharia laws and they have targeted patriarchy, not Islam. These two paradoxes call for serious debate and action. The goal of the forum is to discuss the new challenges facing academics, activists and politicians.

The forum is organized around nine major axes:

1. Equality of sexes in the new constitutions
2. Feminist discourses in the region (secular/liberal and Islamic feminisms)
3. Feminine and feminist activisms
4. Women’s political participation in the eve of the Arab uprisings
5. Women and economic empowerment
6. Women and cultural Rights
7. Rural Women
8. Women’s rights and public/individual freedoms, masculinites
9. Women and transnational networking

The languages of the forum will be : Arabic, French and English.

For more information please contact: Contact: Prof. Dr. Fatima Sadiqi (ISIS), Academic Director sadiqi_fatima@yahoo.fr

To read the full programme and all the details: CLICK HERE

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