Recent years have witnessed a surge in the debate on women’s rights in the Arab and Islamic world. Social media platforms have been inundated with heated discussions on the ramifications of the feminist movement that has swept the region of late. In a highly polarised sphere, ‘social worries’ have accused the opposing side of ‘high jacking’ society’s morality. On one side there are feminists who denounce the region’s patriarchy, while the opposing side blames feminists for the breakdown of the nuclear family, traditional values, and traditions that have inspired the region for hundreds of years. The virtual space is rife with toxic debates.
The “#MeToo” movement which was sparked 5 years ago fuelled online debates over women’s rights in the public space. The public took to social media to advocate for women and the array of sexual abuse and harassment they face in their daily lives. Many women publicly shared their experiences and took the lead on mobilisation. The latest protests in Iran may be seen as a manifestation of this movement: Iranian women-led nationwide protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who was killed by the ‘morality police’ for improper hijab. Iran implements some of the strictest policies on women since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Amini’s death led to popular rage and cries to abolish draconian codes on women dress. Women and teenage girls protested in streets and schools across the country, and thousands of Iranians protested in solidarity. Iran’s regime has been brutal. Hundreds have died since the outbreak of protests, and many more have been detained and charged. But protests have continued across social classes, universities, streets, and schools, challenging the decade-long establishment.
Demand for feminist reforms have spread across the entire Middle East. Voices demanding equality and social change have risen in the last decades, and social media have facilitated much of the debate, where it reached every corner of the social fabric. More people of the Arab world including those who never took part in such debates are voicing their opinion.
Feminist debates for the longest while have been contained to political and academic platforms where specialists drive much of the intellectual discussion. But with the rapid growth of social media the debate on women’s rights has become open to people of all ages and backgrounds, thus making all means of ‘eliminating’ one’s opponent are used: trolling, cancelling, or even bullying their opposing side. It has been labelled ‘assassination by social media’ and not many have managed to survive it. Amid this cacophony, defining feminism may well be a good first step to understanding the ravaging debate in the Arab world.
Feminist Waves
“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is”, once wrote a famous British feminist author. Cambridge Dictionary defines feminism as such: “the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state.” Thus, feminism could be understood as an ideology that aims at achieving equality between men and women. The feminist movement began in the West hundreds of years ago, and it took the form of ‘waves’ that each emerged during different historical moments and having different goals.
First-wave feminism began in the 19th century. It focused on legal issues, primarily on securing women’s right to vote. Several key women figures emerged in the public life, not because of their connection to prominent men, but for their activism and unprecedented demands for social reform. Early feminists demanded better access to education, public engagement, and legal rights. First-wave feminism extended to the Arab world, most notably Egypt, Lebanon and Syria, where women activists demanded more rights to voting, education, and access to public life. Those efforts certainly made sizable improvements to women’s rights, but they still lagged in comparison to privileges enjoyed by men in different parts of the region.
The second wave begun in early 60s until late 70s of the 20th century. This wave aimed to increase economic and social equality for women. It criticised the stereotypical conceptions of women of the time and contested the Western capitalist social transformation and gender roles. Second wave produced a wide range of social change and resulted in change in laws as well as social practices. Several international research programmes were launched during the period, and women participation in cultural and political spaces increased notably. Feminist contribution to arts, literature, culture, and music made waves at the forefront of cultural production, carrying a unique voice in the world. Led by a younger generation, this wave challenged long-standing traditions, producing a generational war over cultural, social, and economic norms.
The fashion industry, moreover, was a remarkable space for feminist ‘revolution’. Women-centric designs that focused on comfort and practicality over a capitalist ‘objectification’ of women led to the radical change within the industry away from sexual objectification of women.
In the early 1990s, third-wave feminism emerged. Generally, the wave built on previous feminist movements in prior decades, demanding more rights for women. Yet other opposing voices argued that women had indeed gained considerable ground in their goal to equality. For some, feminism became an aim for itself which, in their view, undermined what had been achieved by their predecessors. But a key contribution of third-wave feminism was the concept of intersectionality, an analytical framework introduced by feminist scholars to capture the ways in which different aspects of a woman’s identity could expose them to overlapping forms of discrimination and marginalisation. Attitudes, systems and structures in society and organisations can interact to create inequality and result in exclusion. Thus, intersectionality become an essential element within the field of Gender Studies.
The latest wave of feminist movement, fourth-wave feminism, began around 2012 and continues until today. It is characterised by a focus on empowerment of women and the use of internet tools to drive social change. The fourth wave seeks greater gender equality by focusing on gendered norms and the marginalization of women in society. Fourth wave has become a movement for speaking up and sharing experiences about abuse, harassment, and violence, in the workplace and at home. The #MeToo campaign is the most notable campaign to which fourth wave is credited. A form of “hashtag activism”, the campaign gave hundreds of women a platform to expose and persecute their abusers. Hollywood has witnessed some of the most infamous cases of high-profile and powerful film producers getting disgraced publicly by their victims. The movement spread globally, including the Middle East. During Covid-19 lockdowns many Arab women took on to the social media to fight the upsurge in domestic violence, sexual blackmail, and bullying.
The Complexities of Arab Context
The word feminism might have a bad ring to it in the region. Seen as an ‘import’ of the West, many Arab societies have dismissed the concept as a Western tool to influence, or more cynically control the region. It has been perceived as a scheme to destabilise the social fabric and norms. Perhaps the main reason behind this view is the misapprehension that advancing women's rights would necessarily have to lead to the impairment of men’s rights in a perceived ‘zero-sum game’.
The way in which feminists in the Arab world have campaigned for their cause may have contributed to this negative perception. Often feminists have painted a ‘reversed scenario’ to show how men wouldn’t accept such injustices which women suffer; yet men in the region have inadvertently perceived this narrative in a literal sense, leading to the false belief that feminists aim to literally reverse the social order. Other extreme feminist views may have exacerbated the negative perception of the movement.
The general view in the Arab world is that feminism is incompatible with the region’s norms and traditions. Feminism, the argument goes, is set to destruct the fabric of the Middle East’s conservative society. Paradoxically, such views are internalising the same Orientalist narrative they criticise. They fail to recognise that feminism in the Arab world emerged hand in hand with anti-colonial and national movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. To reduce feminism in the Arab world to a Western export is inaccurate at best, and cynical at worse.
Granted, Western schools of feminism may have influenced other movements around the world. Yet one must recognise the deep influence of Islamic and Arabic traditions on original feminist thought, the role key Arab feminists have played and their large impact on the region. Arab histography, nevertheless, may have missed capturing the vast contribution of Arab feminists to the region’s modern history, but the fact remains that original feminist thought shaped the modern Arab world in great and everlasting ways.
Many Arab states of late have established centres for women's empowerment, yet the concept of feminism remains marred with controversy in the region. Most Arab societies view feminism through a sceptical lens, maintaining that feminists are set to clash with Arab social and religious norms. This negative perception may have been made worse by a few activists with spiteful views. These are bad apples, and their goal is often to attract media attention.
In summary, the Arab feminist movement is far more sophisticated than to be pigeonholed in a simplistic narrative. The Arab feminist movement has seen a deep alliance of men and women, supported by civil society, advocating for equality and justice. It’s a call for equality based on citizenship and shared duties. Advocates of women’s rights from the region recognise the complexity of the Arab world: achieving equality is a long and hard-fought journey that requires legal advocacy, political campaigning, and grassroots civil work. Feminists working in the public space have made considerable gains. The movement’s leading figures played an important and active role in shaping the region, contributing heavily to areas of family, education, social justice, equality, and law. Their legacy has been reflected in modern laws protecting women’s rights, research centres, and empowerment programmes across the entire region.
Yet, feminists face much bigger challenges in the private space. Their work is faced with deeply rooted norms and traditions within highly rigid family structures that exert influence on young girls. The heated impetus to the controversy around feminism on social media has marred some of their historic gains, especially in the private domain; male violence and murder debates over gender roles, and demonising women's rights advocates, are symptomatic of a toxic sphere on which the media feeds for eyeballs and clicks. This in turn has tarnished feminism as an evil movement that aims to destruct society or take away from men’s rights. But the true harm lies in the fact that inequality and injustice are experienced by women across the Arab world, often without remedy. Left unfixed, the harms of women's inequality will be felt for generations to come.
