The Foreign Service Journal, May 2012

F OCUS ON THE A RAB S PR ING W OMEN AND THE A RAB S PRING 24 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 1 2 ew people will soon forget the im- ages of people taking to the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, and now Syria, to overthrow auto- cratic regimes. These images belie long-held notions of the lack of popular democratic aspirations in the Arab world. So, too, did images of women, standing along- side men, undercut stereotypes of voiceless, invisible Arab women. In Tahrir Square and Change Square, and on the streets of Tunisia and Libya, women and men marched together to demand change and a new order. These were the actions of people seeking a new political fu- ture. Life under these repressive regimes had become so difficult that many believed only revolutionary change could remedy the situation. And for women, things were particularly difficult. The Gender Gap The World Economic Forum’s annual Gender Gap Reports show that the quality of economic and political participation for Arab women declined in the years leading up to the Arab Spring. No Arab country ranked above the bottom seventh in either the 2010 or 2011 re- port. The United Nations Development Programme’s own Arab Human Development Reports confirm that the exclusion of women from public life has been a prime factor undermining overall economic progress across the region. According to the WEF, while some Arab countries have closed the educational attainment gap between men and women, the economic opportunity or partici- pation and the political empowerment gaps grew steadily between 2006 and 2010. Even Tunisia, where women secured legal equality and the education gap has been closed for decades, ranked only 107 out of 134 countries in 2010. In the five years before the 2011 rev- olution, it had slipped 17 spots in the rankings. Objective evidence shows these countries are still lagging behind global trends that increasingly recognize the value of empowering women. Although Tunisian women comprised the majority of college graduates under former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, they have faced significant barriers in attaining key decision- making positions in politics, the civil service and busi- ness. Only one woman was formally employed for every 2.6 men, and their average earnings were less than a O NE OF THE CHIEF LESSONS OF THE PAST YEAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST IS THAT DEMOCRACY IS EVERYONE ’ S BUSINESS . B Y M ELANNE V ERVEER Melanne Verveer has served as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues since April 2009.