On Friday 11 January, Dr Isobel Coleman of the Council on Foreign Relations addressed students and faculty on ‘How Women are Transforming the Middle East’.
Dr Coleman rejected easy contrasts between liberal secularists and conservative Islamists. She also pointed out that advocacy for women’s rights does not divide along gender lines: there are members of both sexes on both sides of the debate. Drawing on her own travel and research in the region, she explained how Middle Eastern women and men are working within the contexts of their specific cultures, and of Islam, to achieve full equality for women.
Dr Coleman emphasised that change is happening, albeit at differing speeds around the region. In literacy and education, girls in the Middle East are outperforming boys at every level in school. In Saudi Arabia, for example, women comprise sixty-three per cent of university graduates. The overall female literacy rate in Arab countries currently stands at about sixty per cent, up from forty per cent in 2002. This increase in female literacy has come with a decline in fertility rates in both Arab countries and in the greater Middle East. Regional neighbour Iran has seen a drop in below replacement level. In fact, the Iranian government has become so concerned that it has banned free contraception.
Dr Coleman argued that both new and old media are helping women find their voices and participate in national debates. Social networking and blogging have increased connectivity on a large scale, and TV programmes like ‘Sweet Talk’ and Turkish soap opera ‘Noor,’ have encouraged discussion on taboo topics such as abortion, premarital sex and sexual abuse.
However, there is still a long way to go. Despite their share among university graduates in Saudi Arabia, women are only ten per cent of the workforce. In other countries like Egypt and Yemen that have experienced major upheavals over the last two years, women who have tried to seize the moment and demand more rights have either been ridiculed and harassed or ‘shunted to the side,’ Dr Coleman explained.
MPP student Yulia Taranova appreciated Dr Coleman’s non-divisive approach. ‘It was a fascinating and inspiring talk. Dr Coleman reminded us that feminism is not a women's struggle against men, but a struggle of men and women against men and women,’ she said.
Isobel Coleman is Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Programme and the Civil Society, Markets and Democracy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations, where she is also a Senior Fellow. Her latest book, “Paradise Beneath Her Feet”, focuses on the experience of women in five countries: Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
