The Issues that Women Face in The Middle East By: Anna Arnold.

The Issues that Women Face in The Middle East

By: Anna Arnold

What is happening to women in the Middle East

o Women are not looked at equally in the Middle East. Most women are subservient to the men in the society

o They hardly have civil rights, let alone political rights

o They cannot voteo They have a lot of violence that occur against

the women

What is happening to women in the Middle East (continued)

• They get beat and abused by men • They are many untold raping's that occur• The raping's that do occur and are told to the

police never get solved• They are fighting for equality for the women

so they get treated equally to the men in their society

What is happening to women in the Middle East (continued)

• While 16 of the 17 countries examined contain the concept of equal rights in their constitutions, women face legal forms of discrimination that are systematic and pervade every aspect of life; in some countries women are susceptible to harsher penalties than men for certain crimes.

• Women do not enjoy the same citizenship and nationality rights as men in MENA countries. A woman who marries a foreigner cannot pass on her citizenship or nationality to her spouse and, in most countries, cannot confer her citizenship to her children.

• No country in the region has laws that clearly outlaw all forms of domestic violence. The burden of proof is placed entirely on the female victim in cases of gender-based violence, which discourages women from reporting crimes. Some laws, such as those that encourage men who rape women to marry their victims, even condone violence against women.

What is happening to women in the Middle East (continued)

• Women in the region are largely unaware of their rights, due in part to educational weaknesses and the failure by governments to engage in public education campaigns. Students, especially girls, are not taught about citizenship rights. The media also largely fails to cover injustices suffered by women. Cultural attitudes generally regard women's demands and protests as contrary to women's traditional, subservient roles.

• In almost all MENA countries, women face gender-based discrimination in family codes. Except in Morocco and Tunisia, family laws relegate women to inferior status within marriage and family life. Husbands are given power over their wives' right to work and travel, and they can divorce their wives at any time, without reason and without going to court; women are required by law to meet specific conditions in order to seek divorce through a court of law.

• With the exception of Egypt, MENA governments do not provide mechanisms for women to file complaints of gender discrimination.

What is happening to women in the Middle East (continued)

• There was a study released that showed these static's about the violence against women in the Middle East– 56% of the reasons given for women's being punished were for

"disrespect" and cursing– 14% for neglecting their household duties. Husbands beat their

wives in 49% of such cases, used insults in 38%, and used silent treatment in 8.4%.

– 67% of women had been punished in front of their families — 52% were insulted and 87% were beaten.

How the UN is involved

• They have created the UN Women organization that worldwide helps women gain equal rights and to stop violence

• During the UN Commission on the Status of Women, UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union launched a 2012 global map on women in politics. The map shows that progress remains very slow and uneven and needs to be accelerated to achieve equality.

• Over the course of the year it has become clear that women will face significant challenges ahead in seeking equal participation in the political arena.

How the UN is involved (continued)

• With the help of the United Nations the Middle Eastern women are seeing these changes occurring:– Girls are getting educations– More women in the workforce– More women holding political positions– Violence slowing decreasing but not as fast as it

should

Future for Women in the Middle East

• I feel that women will eventually be seen as equal to men.

• They are taking big steps in making it equal but still a lot more needs to be done

• The violence needs to keep decreasing against women

• Law enforcement will eventually listen to women and take their complaints against men more seriously.

Future for Women in the Middle East (continued)

• They will prove not only their worth, but also their ability to deliver significant results in the workplace

• The older women are determined to change how the women are treated and make sure they don’t face the same issues