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The rise of women in Arab
countries goes beyond redressing historical injustices against them
and ensuring their equitable treatment - notwithstanding that both are
due obligations for Arab societies. Indeed, the advancement of women
is a pre-requisite for a comprehensive Arab renaissance.
Arab countries have
undoubtedly attained significant achievements in the advancement of
women, but the ultimate objectives of this endeavour, as
conceptualised in the Arab Human Development Reports, require further
effort. Much more remains to be accomplished by way of enabling the
equitable acquisition and utilisation of human capabilities and the
exercise of human rights, before women’s advancement can be complete.
Since the status of women in the Arab world is a culmination of the
complex – and often problematic - interaction of cultural, social,
economic and political factors, there are many impediments to this
process in the region. Nevertheless, Arab women have managed to attain
outstanding achievements in diverse fields of human activity.
Societal reform aimed
at enabling the rise of women, in line with the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), is
envisioned as one of the two wings of the bird symbolising the rise of
women in the Arab world. A
bird, however, needs two wings to fly. The other wing would be a
wide-ranging and effective movement in Arab civil society that engages
both women and their male supporters in steadily extending and
consolidating targeted societal reform initiatives on the one hand,
and on the other, empowering women - and the society at large - to
benefit from them.
In particular, the report calls for the
adoption of time-bound affirmative action, tailored to the
specificities of each Arab society, in order to expand the
participation of women in all fields of human activity.
This is considered imperative to dismantle the structures of centuries
of discrimination. |
