Gender Equality and Women Empowerment:
The Latin American and Arab Experience
By
Mona M. Kaidbey
A draft Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Center for the
Global South at the American University, Washington DC,
March 2003.
This draft is not for citation without permission of the author. The views presented in this
paper are the author’s only and do not represent those of the organization, United Nations
Population Fund, in which she is a staff member.
INTRODUCTION
Inequality between women and men is a characteristic aspect of human development
across the globe, existing in both developed and developing countries. Such gender
inequalities are experienced with respect to economic resources, and with respect to
rights and the degree of participation in social, cultural and political life.
The empowerment of women to seek their rights and interests is a key factor that
contributes to progress in closing gender gaps in development. Women empowerment
is not possible without the presence of democratic and participatory spaces as well as
the organization of women. Historically, states have not implemented public reform
of any kind without pressure from interest groups or the voting public, thus an
effective women’s movement could play a key role.
In this paper, I will examine the status of gender inequalities in each of the regions
and discuss the role played by women’s organizations in empowering women to gain
their rights.
I.
OVERVIEW OF GENDER INEQUALITIES IN THE TWO REGIONS
Background Information: Income growth, Poverty and Population
For Arab States, the 1970s and early 80s were years of rapid economic growth when
wide segments of the population benefited from the huge social returns, particularly
in health and education. Poverty was nearly eliminated. By 1990, only 5.6% of the
population in the region lived on less than $1 day compared to 28.8% in Latin
America. During this period, gender gaps in education, health, and, to a lesser degree,
economic participation were significantly reduced.
However, the Arab countries economy suffered a sharp drop in the late 80s and early
90s with growth returning between 1998 and 2000. Poverty has increased in the
region, it stands at 22% (less than a $ a day). During this period, we witnessed a
sluggish improvement in reducing the gender gaps in all areas. Comparative studies
on gender and economic growth show that the Arab region stands to gain
significantly in economic growth if it closes the gender equality gap which improves
the capacity of women, thus the productivity of the economy ( World Bank, 2000).
Similarly, Latin American countries went through their worst economic crisis in the
1980s when growth was falling at a rate of 1% annually—the so called lost decade.
The economy bounced back in the 1990s, per capita income grew at an average of
2%, but remains below the pre-80s figures. The region remains gripped with economic
insecurity. This has affected the social spending patterns, including health and
education. The impact on rates of enrolment and youth education, most particularly
among the poor, is visible, yet the gender gap is not as visible as that in the Arab
countries.
Table 1. Population and population Growth
Latin America
Arab States
2001
2001
Population, total (in millions)
523.7
300.7
Population growth (annual %)
1.5%
2.0%
Source of Data, World Bank, 2001
Population
Population growth patterns are an important consideration for policy decisions
concerning investments in social sectors, particularly education and health. Poor gender
outcomes and high gender inequality are correlated with a high population growth and a
low economic growth. Population growth has been higher in the Arab Countries than in
Latin America, some of the highest population growth rates are in Yemen and Saudi
Arabia. These rates are particularly important to analyze, most particularly vis-à-vis the
growth of the labor force. For example, Venezuela has a 2% annual population growth
rate and a 3% growth rate in its the labor force, while Saudi Arabia has 2.7% annual
population growth and 2.9% growth in the labor force ( World Bank, 2001). For a region
with a very young population structure, these data have significant implications.
In the 70 and 80s, the Arab states were able to counterbalance the more than 3% in
population growth by high income from oil revenues which lead to an annual increase in
per capita income close to 6%( UNDP Arab Development Report, 2002.) This was
accompanied by a great expansion in health and education for women, and greater
participation in the economy, which in turn led to significant changes in fertility patterns
associated with a decline in population growth. Population growth rate slowed down in
the 90s, but remains high at 2.6%, higher than the rate of economic growth registered for
the same period, around 2.3%. With a slowing economic growth and a high population
growth rate, this has had a detrimental effect on social spending, reducing the resources
available to achieve further expansion in access to health and education most particularly
affecting services to rural poor and women in particular.
Gender Gaps in Education
Between 1970 and 1990, the greatest increases in primary and secondary education
enrollment took place in the Arab region. Yet this progress appears to have slowed in the
90s with continuing gender inequalities, most particularly at the secondary level. A
review of the gross enrollment rates shows that gender gaps still exist in all countries of
the region. The gap is highest in Morocco and Yemen where it is compounded by a
rural/urban disparity. The data also indicate that the magnitude of these gaps have not
changed significantly over the last ten years( Table 2, UNESCO, 2002).
Table 2. Gender Gap in Education, Source (UNESCO, 2002)
Female adult literacy as percentage of male rate
Arab states
Latin America
1970
38
91
1992
61
97
1997
66
98
Female primary net enrolment as percentage of male ratio
Arab states
Latin America
1970
63
101
1992
92
98
1997
91
98
Female secondary net enrolment as percentage of male ratio
Arab states
Latin America
1970
47
91
1992
77
98
1997
85
101
Contrary to Arab States, Latin America has closed the gender gap in education. There,
the remaining challenge is rural/urban and class disparities.
Illiteracy rates are still high in the Arab world. In 2000, the average rate of illiteracy
among male youths was 23%, compared to 40% for females. Today there are over
60 million illiterates in the region, the majority being women (Arab Human Development
Report, 2002). Illiteracy among youth is also high, ranging from more than 50% in
Morocco to less than 10% in Lebanon, and approaching zero in Jordan.
(%)
Figure 1-- Arab States Youth Illiteracy Rates—Males Ages 15–24. Source:
World Bank, 2002
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1980
1990
Algeria
Morocco
Jordan
Tunisia
1995
Lebanon
Saudi Arabia
2000
Egypt
Figure 2-- Arab States Youth Illiteracy Rates—Females Ages 15–24 ,
Source: World Bank, 2002
80
70
60
(%)
50
40
30
20
10
0
1980
Algeria
Morocco
1990
Jordan
Tunisia
1995
Lebanon
Saudi Arabia
2000
Egypt
In Latin America, the average illiteracy rates are 12% for males and 24% for females.
Illiteracy is highest in Guatemala and Bolivia—around 40% for males and more than
50% for females. These rates reflect the low access of the indigenous groups to public
services. Figures 1-4, are for selected mid-income countries selected from both regions
Latin America, Selected countries-- Youth Illiteracy Rates—Males Ages 15–
24, Source: World Bank, 2002
40
35
30
(%)
25
20
15
10
5
0
1980
Bolivia
Guatamala
1990
Columbia
Honduras
1995
El Salvador
Peru
2000
Brazil
Venezuela
Latin America Youth Illiteracy Rates—Females Ages 15–24, Selected
countries, source: World Bank, 2002
60
50
(%)
40
30
20
10
0
1980
1990
1995
2000
Bolivia
Guatamala
Columbia
Honduras
El Salvador
Peru
Brazil
Venezuela
In general and most particularly for the Arab countries, the gender gap is a reflection of
the quality of the education and the low priority that most poor families, particularly the
rural poor, assign to girls’ education. For these families the benefits of education are
more obvious for boys than girls.
In order to fully understand this dimension of school enrollment and drop out, additional
information is needed about the decision making process with regards to education within
the household. We also need to know more about gender role socialization in the schools
and examine the degree to which the school environment contributes to drop out rates
among girls. Education reform that specifically targets girls is needed.
With the decline in the economy, public spending on social sector has also declined. The
average expenditure on education as % GNP for the Arab States in 1990 was 6.2%; it
declined to 5.1% in 1995 (HDR 1991, HDR1998). This trend in public spending is
inadequate to change the pattern of declining progress in access to education and in
narrowing the gender gap. According to one study (World Bank, 1999), by 2010
minimum, Arab states enrollment rates should be 100% for primary education, 70% for
secondary school, and 25% for higher education. This will require approximately a rate
of spending that is three times 1990 levels for countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, and
Morocco. In addition to raising access targets by level, there is an urgent need to improve
the quality of the education and test the performance of the education system, and ensure
that the educational environment does not discriminate against girls.
It is important to note that in Latin America, as is the pattern in the industrialized world,
although women have achieved virtually equal access to all levels, most particularly
higher education, educational equity has not led to improved economic status.
Gender and Health: Reproductive Health—The darkest side of discrimination
The costs of the political and economic invisibility of women are very often cited and
analyzed. However, equal attention is not given to the exorbitant costs of the
reproductive functions paid solely by women. Maternal death, is the single most
powerful indicator of the differential impact of these women’s reproductive functions.
While they have declined significantly over the last ten years, they remain too high.
They range from a high of 1400/100,000 births in Yemen, 980/100,000 in Morocco,
close to 550/100,000 in Bolivia, 260/100,000 in Brazil, to a low of 26 per 100,000 in
United Arab Emirates, and 14 in Cuba(World development indicators, data for 1995;
compared to for example 6 in Canada, 9 in the United Kingdom, 12 in the United States,
and 18 in Japan (HDR1999)
In the Arab countries, public spending on health has not increased in any of the midincome countries with the exception of Jordan and a lesser extent Syria. Tremendous
progress has been achieved in the higher income countries—most particularly Oman. Of
the total health budget, the allocations made to reproductive health remains
disproportionately low compared to the magnitude of the problem. Disparities are high
between rural and urban areas in both regions.
The dynamics of gender and the impact of the unbalanced power relations between men
and women is nowhere more visible than in the area of women’s health. Socially
constructed gender roles and power relations determine the woman’s fertility, the
woman’s health seeking behavior, the quality of care she receives from health
professionals, and the accessibility of the services (as a function of national strategies and
policy makers’ allocation of resources). All are gendered processes of decision making.
Maternal Mortality per 100,000 Live Births
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
North America
Northern Europe
Latin America
Arab States
Thus it is not surprising to find that high fertility rates continue to exist in Arab countries
of high economic and educational development such as Jordan and Syria, as well as in
high income countries such as Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Total Fertility Rate—Births per Woman
7
6.1
6
5
4
3
4.1
3.7
3.5
2.7
2.6
2
1
0
World
Latin America
1980
Arab World
1999
Adolescent Fertility Rate—Births per 1,000 Women Ages 15–19
100
80
73
68
60
52
40
20
0
1999
World
Latin America
Arab World
Maternal death is preventable. It continues to exist because, for the most part, it low on
the agenda of predominantly male policy makers, a situation that is complicated by sociocultural barriers that negatively effect women’s reproductive choices and health-seeking
behavior. The list of factors that are mediated by socio-cultural norms and barriers
include: early age of pregnancy, high fertility rates, knowledge and practice of safe and
effective methods of fertility regulation, poor nutrition, complications of unsafe
abortions, and harmful traditional practices.
Latin America—1995 Maternal Mortality Ratio per 100,000 Live Births
600
500
400
300
200
100
Ve
ne
zu
el
a
ru
Pe
a
du
ra
s
H
on
m
al
te
G
ua
Sa
lv
ad
or
a
El
C
ol
om
bi
il
B
ra
z
B
ol
iv
ia
0
Arab States—1995 Maternal Mortality Ratio per 100,000 Live Births
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Algeria
Egypt
Jordan
Lebanon Morocco
Tunisia
Saudi
Arabia
For the most, part women’s reproductive rights are not yet widely recognized in the Arab
World. There is little recognition of the multiple roles of women and the burdens these
roles place on their mental and physical health.
Gender equality in economic participation: Quantity vs. Quality
Latin American women have participated in the labor force in greater numbers
and beginning much earlier in the twentieth century than their counterparts in the
Arab world, just as they achieved higher gains in political and social indicators
almost fifty years earlier than in the Arab states. As we see in the chart below
women have gained at least 15% points over the last twenty years. They gained
more than men.
According to UN statistics, and taking into consideration the under-reporting of women’s
contribution in the informal and Agricultural sectors that effect labor statistics, the Arab
States still have the lowest economic participation rates for women. This pattern persisted
over several reporting periods: 22% in 1970, 27% in 1995, and 19.2% in 1997 (UNDP,
1995, 1998).
Female Labor Force—% of Total, Source: World Bank, 2002
45%
40
39.1% 40.6%
34.6%
35
27.8%
30
27.3%
23.8%
25
20
15
10
5
0
World
Latin America
1980
2000
Arab States
These labor statistics do not adequately illustrate the disparate conditions of labor for
men and women, however. Data indicate that the Arab States have the same pattern of
inequality that exist all over the world: women’s income is on average lower than men.
For example, women’s average income is reported as 60% of men’s in Syria, 79.5% in
Egypt and 83.5 % in Jordan (UNDP, 1995).
Also, significantly fewer women than men participate in the workforce. Women’s
participation as compared to men’s ranges from a high of approximately 60% in Tunisia,
53% in Morocco, 40% in Sudan and Yemen, to a low of 21% in Saudi Arabia. This
compares poorly to the average of 91% for industrialized nations and 64% for all
developing countries.
Latin America Gender Wage Gap—Urban Sector, World Bank, 2002
110%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
ad
or
e
N
ic
ar
ag
ua
le
Sa
lv
C
hi
El
il
B
ra
z
ru
Pe
du
ra
s
a
H
on
om
bi
C
ol
ez
u
al
a
co
Ve
n
ex
i
M
nt
in
a
A
rg
e
C
os
ta
R
ic
a
50%
While there has been an increase in women’s participation, it has been slow and does not
always match the educational gains attained by the women of the region. While there are
many variables that may influence this low participation, cultural and social definitions of
gender roles and division of labor and the absence of affirmative action legislation are
among the main barriers to women’s seeking employment.
The value of work as a transformational tool for women’s empowerment is sometimes
considered axiomatic. But of equal importance are the type and condition of employment
and the equality of opportunities for men and women. In Latin America the analysis of
labor participation needs to consider the special adverse effects of structural reforms on
men’s and women’s employment as well as those with low and high education levels.
For example, studies indicate the presence of male economic marginalization in countries
such as Argentina, Brazil and Costa Rica. Discussion of these special conditions lay
beyond the scope of this paper.
It is important to study discrimination practices that affect employment, such as
opportunities for training, mobility and benefits. Without such data on gender relations
and patterns within the labor market, it will be difficult to tailor the labor policies and
laws that promote gender equality.
Political Rights, political Participation, and anti discrimination laws
In no region of the world do women and men have equal rights ( economic, social or
legal). Women are especially underrepresented in national and local political structures.
In 1990, the UN set a 30% threshold as the minimum share of decision-making positions
for women at the national level. Regardless of whether women’s political participation is
a basic right or a good practice, very few countries have achieved this goal. Yet gender
disparities in this area are highest in the MENA region and in South Asia. Globally,
women account for 14% of the Parliamentary seats, and progress everywhere has
stagnated since the 70s. In Latin America it is close to the global average. Women in
Latin America appear to have gained or are consolidating a visible presence in national
legislatures. Still, the progress is uneven, ranging from 5% of legislative seats in Brazil,
9% in Peru, to 14% in Argentina ( HDR, 2002). As early as 1951, the first year Argentine
women were able to vote or hold office, 29 women were elected to Parliament, 18% of
total ( Deere, 2001).
In most Arab countries with the exception of the Arab Peninsula, women gained their
right to vote early on after independence. A dynamic movement composed of secular
and Islamic feminists fought fiercely for women’s rights. But over time, voting rights did
not result in any serious consideration of women as members in the elite male clubs, and
access to inner circles of power remained low. Arab women hold only 4% of
parliamentary seats, the lowest of any region. Many of the Governments in the region
have by now restricted the rights of (NGOs) to social and developmental work and
curtailed the freedom to engage in any form of political activities. Yet NGOs continue to
be the major avenue for women’s political participation.
Laws against discriminatory practices across all types of institutions is a basic
requirement for social change. While there are many aspects to the discussion of gender
and legal reforms, I will only focus here on the basic laws that are at heart of men and
women’s equality: the personal status or family laws. These laws have been the targets
of many women’s movements throughout the century in both Latin America and the Arab
states. Tremendous progress was achieved in Latin America but Arab countries—with
the exception of Tunisia—have achieved little progress in this area. The resistance to
introduction and enforcement of such laws is exemplified in the various positions that
countries have taken vis-à-vis the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) that was adopted by the United Nations Assembly on 18
December, 1979 and came into force as an international treaty on 3 September, 1981.
Commitment established in Latin America to CEDAW
The first wave of the women’s movement in Latin America emerged at the end of the 19th
Century and the early decades of the 20th and had a broad agenda which included female
suffrage, full property rights, and enhanced legal capacity of married women. This
struggle was highly contested and continued for most of the century. The rights were not
necessarily gained in one package or at the same time. Civil code reform was achieved in
some countries in the region as early as the 1830s, and laws regarding the legal capacity
of married women and right to the administration of own property were gained in most
Latin American countries in the early decades of the 20th century. The last rights to be
gained were those of gender equality in the household which [in some countries has only
been recently achieved / has yet to be achieved in some countries] (Argentina, Chile,
Honduras, Nicaragua). The success in acquiring these rights can be attributed to a
feminist movement made possible by a growing number of women acquiring secondary
and higher education and entering the labor market early in the 20th Century (Deere,
2001)
Table 3. Attainment of Female Suffrage in Latin America
Pioneers
World War II Period
Post-World War II
Ecuador
1929/46
El Salvador
1939/50
Argentina
1947
Brazil
1932
Dominican Rep.
1942
Venezuela
1947
Uruguay
1932
Guatemala
1945
Chile
1948/49
Cuba
1934
Panama
1945/46
Bolivia
1952
Costa Rica
1945/49
Mexico
1953
Colombia
1954
Honduras
1955
Nicaragua
1955
Peru
1955
Paraguay
1961
Source: Deere and Leon, p. 47.
Latin American fought long for their right to vote. That is, from the time of emergence of
the first organized demand for women’s full citizenship and the advent of the women’s
suffrage, twenty years elapsed in Cuba, 30 years in Brazil and Bolivia, forty years in
Argentina and Colombia and fifty years in Mexico and Chile ( Deere, 2001). So I do not
want to give the impression that it was easy. But once this was accomplished, the
ratification of the UN CEDAW occurred relatively quickly. Six Latin American
countries (Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, Uruguay) were among the
first twenty countries to ratify. By 1985, most of the Latin American countries had
ratified it with no reservation except to article 29. At the time CEDAW was ratified, only
eight countries explicitly provided for gender equality in their constitution, after
ratification six additional countries adopted constitutions that explicitly guarantee men
and women equal rights.
Table 4. Latin America Status and Protection Under the Law (HDR, 2002)
Vote
CEDAW
Bolivia
1938–52
1990
Brazil
1934
1984
Chile
1931
1989
Columbia
1954
1982
Ecuador
1929–67
1981
El Salvador
1939
1982
Guatemala
1946
1982
Honduras
1955
1983
Peru
1955
1982
Venezuela
1946
1983
This is not to say that constitutional reform in Latin America was the result of the
ratification of the 1979 UN convention. Rather, when a redrafting of the constitution was
on the national political agenda for domestic political reasons (often a change in regime),
the political space was opened for the incorporation of gender equality as a constitutional
principle. That these opportunities were actually taken advantage of very much reflects
the strength the feminist and women’s movement in Latin America had achieved by the
1980s and the growing presence of women professionals within the state and in public
life in general.
Arab States Commitment to equal rights and CEDAW
The commitment to equal rights has yet to come in the Arab states. The women’s
movement started in the Arab world at the same time as its Latin American counterpart
but has not been as effective for reasons that I will discuss later. Once the right to vote
was gained early in the twentieth century, little progress has been made in the equal status
family law (with the exception of Tunisia which early introduced equal status law during
the foundation of the state). Syria and Iraq had more liberal laws in this area. Jordan’s
women’s movement—with support from the Royal Family—have introduced some
positive changes. In Morocco there has been a recent campaign by a large group of
NGOs to amend the personal status law, but the changes fall short of achieving equality.
Interestingly, Egypt—where the women’s movement was very advanced—came closest
to achieving legal reforms in family law in 1927.
Table 5. Arab States Status and Protection Under the Law( HDR, 2002)
Vote
CEDAW
Algeria
1952
1990
Egypt
1956
1981
Lebanon
1952
1997
Tunisia
1957
1980
Morocco
1963
1993
Jordan
1974
1992
Saudi Arabia
None
2000
Kuwait
None
1994
Bahrain
1973
–
Of the Arab States, 11 have ratified CEDAW with reservations on its most critical
articles, and 6 have not yet ratified it. All ratifying countries have reservations on article
16 and most on article 2 (see Table 6). The removal of the reservations has become the
litmus test for the political commitment to achieve gender equality.
Table 6. Status of Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of discrimination
against women (1979)
Ratified with
Reservations
Algeria
Egypt
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Morocco
Saudi Arabia
Tunisia
Yemen
Article Number
Not Ratified
2, 9, 15, 16
2, 9, 16, 29
2, 9, 16, 29
9, 15, 16
7, 9, 16, 29
9, 16, 29
2, 16
2, 9, 15, 16, 29
Oman
Qatar
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
United Arab Emirates
9, 15, 16, 29
29
Source: UNDAW and Reports of the State Parties to the Committee.
The most serious reservations are those against Article 2, the principle of equality
between men and women, and adoptions of sanctions against discrimination. Any
reservations against this article clearly reveal the lack of commitment of the government
and are in direct violation of the spirit of the convention.
Almost all countries made reservation against article 16, which requires taking
appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to
marriage and family relations and in particular ensuring equality of men and women in
these matters. Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria had categorical reservation against all items
of this article. All others accepted its first two points: a) the same right to enter into
marriage, b) the same right to freely choose a spouse and enter into marriage with their
free and full consent.
Kuwait, had reservation against article 7(a), the elimination of discrimination against
women’s participation in political and public life, the voting right, but did not object to
the other items of the article.
All countries had reservations against article 29 which states that any dispute between
two or more State Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the present
convention that is not settled will be submitted for arbitration.
Again the assumption made in this paper is that the establishment of a legal framework is
a necessary but not sufficient condition to remove gender inequalities. The enforcement
of these laws will be a challenge but also we have to keep in mind that there will also be a
gender-differentiated response to how women will claim their rights. The critical issue
here is the removal of structural barriers and opening the door for individual choices.
II. ANALYSIS OF FACTORS THAT AFFECTED THE WORK OF THE
WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN EACH REGION
1. History and maturity of the democratization process. All LAC countries gained
their independence in the early 19th century (with the exception of Cuba, late 19th
century) and had three waves of democratizations or political transitions. In contrast,
Arab countries gained their independence after World War II and one can argue that
democratizations waves that have reached most regions of the world are yet to take hold
in the region
2. A war stricken vs. a debt ridden region. In the period since WWII the Arab region
has been wracked by numerous wars and armed conflicts which have had a major
negative impact on women’s mobilization for gender equality and movements for
political rights in general. Wars have resulted in high levels of military spending at the
expense of funding for education and health care. Conversely, the 1980s debt crisis in
Latin America has had a positive impact on the women’s movement, expanding its base
beyond the middle class to include also a popular movement that were fighting the
negative impact of structural adjustment programs.
3. Political transition vs. political nationalism. Related to the above two points,
historical trajectory of Arab States and Latin America is associated with two distinct
types of national discourse and popular movements. In Arab regions, these movements,
including women’s movements were regularly mobilized but their agenda was typically
subordinated to issues of recovering national sovereignty or the fight against the
occupiers. In Latin America, the experience is completely different in that the struggle
was to recover popular sovereignty from their military authoritarian rulers. The long
transition periods in Latin America allowed their movements to solidify their efforts and
build organizational capacity.
4. The weakness of the democratic movement in the Arab states as compared to
three waves of democratization in Latin America. Women’s empowerment and
agency requires democratic and participatory spaces for its movement to grow and exert
its pressure for change. In the Arab world there has been a lack of institutionalization of
governance systems and the lack of a critical mass of elite men and women who have
invested in these systems and thus are confident that they can ride safely a wave of
reform. In the Arab world, NGOs play a restricted role and labor unions and business
associations that have normally been a formidable form in other countries—most
particularly in Latin America—are weak. These weaknesses have made it much harder
for the women’s movement to find the political space to organize and build sustainable
networks and alliances in support of their agenda.
5. Politics of the opposition vs. politics of containment. Contrary to its sister
movement in Latin America, the Middle East women’s movement had few options but to
work in close relationship with existing regimes. Their functions and activities were
largely determined by the priorities set by these regimes. It is only in the 80s and 90s that
we began to see some changes and evidence of alternative women’s movements in the
Middle East, which some have labeled as “independent”. One factor that has helped the
rise of “independent” women’s organizations has been the increased influence of
international movements as exemplified by the major UN conferences. Another factor of
the rise of “independent” women organization in the Arab World is the rising tide of
Islamism which has pushed Middle class women to organize themselves in opposition to
what they perceive as socially restricted goals. There is no doubt that conservative
Islamist all over the region have brought about a process of reversal in relation to
women’s rights.
Women in Latin America were visible participants in the political oppositions to military
rule. The politics of the transition itself offered unusual opportunities. In many cases
political parties were banned so the social movements including those championing
environmental concerns and human rights as well as women’s issues, were at the center
of political life.
It has been said that some of the strengths of the Latin American movement would come
from the consolidation of three groups of social agents, what is called the triangle of
empowerment: women active in social movements( urban and rural) women in the state,
and women in formal politics. Elements of the three groups are present in Latin America.
But we still have to see a critical mass of the three groups in the Arab World.
Bibliography
Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam. New Haven and London: Yale University
Press, 1992.
Badran, Margot. Feminists, Islam and Nation. New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
1995.
Deere, Carmen Diana, and Magdalena Leon. Land and Property Rights in Latin
America. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.
Eckstein, Susan Eva, and Timothy P. Wickham-Growley, eds. Struggles for Social
Rights in Latin America. New York: Routledge, 2003.
Hatem, Mervat. “Toward the Development of Post-Islamist and Post-National Feminist
Discourses in the Middle East.” Arab Women: Old Boundaries—New Frontiers. Ed.
Tucker. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993.
Jaquette, Jane S., ed. The Women’s Movement in Latin America: Participation and
Democracy. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1994.
Kandiyoh, Deniz, ed. Gendering the Middle East: Emerging Perspectives. Syracuse
University Press, 1996.
Rodrik, Dani. “Why Is There So Much Economic Insecurity in Latin America?” [paper
prepared for the World Bank], 1999.
Stephen, Lynn. Women and Social Movements in Latin America. Austin: University of
Texas Press, 1997.
UNDP, Arab Human Development Report 2002, United Nations Development
Programme, NY, NY, 2002
UNDP, Human Development Report 2002, Deepening democracy in a Fragmented
World, New York Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002
UNESCO. Education for All: Global Monetary Report. 2002.
World Bank, HNP statistics, 2002
World Bank, Engendering Development, 2001
World Bank, Challenges and Opportunities for Gender equality in Latin America, 2002