Women taking leading roles in the Arab uprisings The status of women in the Arab uprisings is to be discussed by The Doha Debates, following concerns that political Islam might impose new restrictions on them. The motion: “This house believes women will be worse off after the Arab revolutions” will be debated on February 27.
Doha Debates’ chairman, Tim Sebastian, said the treatment of women in the post- revolution states was an important indicator. “It says much about what kind of democracy will emerge from the political turmoil,” he said.
Khadija Arfaoui, Tunisian feminist researcher, women’s rights advocate and former university professor, and Iman Bibars, Vice-President, Ashoka Arab World, and Chairperson of the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women, Egypt’s first microfinance organization will be speaking for the motion.
Opposing them are Libyan academic Amal Jerary and Egypt’s Rabab Al Mehdi, political science professor at the American University of Cairo and co-founder of a number of Egyptian opposition groups, including Women for Democracy.