| What is women's place in everyday Arab life? Focusing on the role of women in Arab-Islamic countries, the conference thematises the dynamics of gender conflicts and women's struggle for their own history, the formulation of their interests and the recognition of their rights. We have invited speakers from the regions who have can look back on years of active commitment, on a number of different levels, to the expansion and practical implementation of women's rights. There are many different forms of and approaches to feminist activities in Arab countries. Moreover, the women's groups have varying attitudes toward Islam, so the conference will explore both secular and Islamic feminism. Representatives of different movements explain their points of view and report on the leeway and scope of action that is available to them in their countries. The situation in the media will be taken as an example. Where are new possibilities being opened up by recent developments such as satellite television and the Internet? The participants will also discuss the political representation of women and issues of "rights and empowerment". What experiences were gained through what different strategies? Where are the obstacles? In conclusion, the participants in the conference will investigate the effect of the gender conflict on social development in the heavily patriarchal countries of the region and the significance of a new gender order in the Arab world for the formation of a pluralistic civil society. In cooperation with the Bruno Kreisky Forum for international Dialogue, Vienna (Austria), and the Karl Kahane Stiftung, Celerina (Switzerland).
T h e P r o g r a m
>> Friday, April 25, 2003
2 – 3:15 p.m.
Welcome / Conference Opening The dynamics of the women’s movement in the Arab world The work of Arab women’s movements has gone through a fundamental change in recent years, with new content, new forms of action and new strategies emerging. Here we offer an overview of two major themes of the conference – the intervention of state and society into women’s activities, and associated problems, and the overall development of gender democracy in the Arab world. Keynote: H.R.H. Princess Basma Bint Talal, director of the Jordanian National Forum for Women, Amman
Aicha Belarbi, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the EU, professor of sociology, Brussels/Rabat
Moderator: Parto Teherani-Krönner, Professor of Social Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 3:15 – 3:30 p.m. break 3:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Lectures followed by discussion
Key content and strategies of Arab women’s groups Different Arab women’s groups – such as secular and Islamic women’s groups, state-decreed and grassroots feminism – use correspondingly different strategies to fight for emancipation. Progressive movements demand radical political and social reforms, criticizing society and the state for misogynistic policies and calling for an immediate change in the women’s situation. By contrast, conservative movements focus on discrimination by men that can be eliminated by better education. Thus, they demand the implementation of educational programs for women to improve their social and economic conditions. Moderator: Bettina Dennerlein, Islamic scholar, Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin Empowerment: the Struggle for Women’s Rights
Asma Khader, International Sisterhood (SIGI), lawyer, Amman
Political Participation in Patriarchal Societies
Rabéa Naciri, Collectif Maghreb Egalité 95, Professor of Geography, Rabat
Statements:
Sumaya Farhat-Naser, writer, peace activist, Birzeit/Ramallah
Bahiya Al-Jishi, Higher Council for Women, Bahrain
8 – 10 p.m.
Podium discussion
Secular and Islamic Feminism
Two different forms of feminism have crystallized in the Arab world: secular feminism and an Islamic feminism which derives women’s rights from the Koran and the Islamic Sunna. There is a controversy as to whether Islamic feminism may be much more effective at presenting and demanding women’s rights. With Nadje Al-Ali, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Exeter (GB), at present Marie Jahoda Guest Professor for International Women’s Research, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Hadeel Qazzaz, social scientist, Arab Middle East Office of the Heinrich Böll-Stiftung, Ramallah
Omeima Abou Bakr, Professor of English and Comparative Literatures at Cairo University, Women and Memory Forum, Cairo
Miral Al-Tahawi, writer, lecturer at Cairo University, Cairo
Moderator: Katajun Amirpur, Islamic scholar, journalist, Cologne >> Saturday, April 26, 2003 1:30 – 4 p.m.
Lectures followed by discussion
Women’s Struggle for the Public Sphere The struggle for the public sphere is central to the emancipation process for women in the Arab world. Since the 70s a central concern of women’s groups in many Arab countries has been to gain a hearing from the media, to speak out in public. Not only is there now a range of women’s magazines and an impressive number of women journalists, even at the state radio and television stations more and more women are working to further the struggle for their rights and examine women’s situation in society.
In recent years the advent of international satellite TV, which is broadcast throughout the Arab world and can no longer be controlled by the national governments, like the advent of Internet communication has created new zones of freedom for the entire society, and for women in particular. The countless Internet cafés throughout the Arab – especially, but not exclusively, in the urban centres – also create new social spaces for men and women alike in which the traditional separation of the sexes is suspended. Moderator: Ibtesam Al-Atiyat, political scientist, Amman/ presently at the FU Berlin Women in the Arab Media: a Success Story?
Iqbal Baraka, editor-in-chief, “Eve”, Cairo
New Social Spaces Created by Internet and Satellite TV
Musa Shteiwi, Professor of Sociology, University of Jordan, Amman
Statements:
Layla B. Chaouni, publisher, “Le Fennec”, Casablanca
Sumaya Farhat-Naser, writer, peace activist, Birzeit/Ramallah 4 – 4:30 p.m. break
4:30 – 7 p.m.
Podium discussion
Gender Difference, Pluralism and Democracy – the Significance of a New Gender Order in the Arab World
This podium examines the position taken by women’s interests, strategies and their struggle for emancipation within the overall political discourse, a discourse on democratization and civil society. At this time many Arab societies are going through processes of socio-political transformation: democracy movements, political openness and liberalization are now enabling women to take very different approaches to enforce their rights.
At the same time, the women’s movements have an effect on their societies. They sensitize the state and its institutions, as well as non-government organizations, to the gender discussion – thus playing a part in developing a civil society. Azza Karam, World Conference on Religion and Peace, Director Women's Program, New York / Cairo
Rabéa Naciri, Collectif Maghreb Egalité 95, Professor of Geography, Rabat
Hadeel Qazzaz, social scientist, Arab Middle East Office of the Heinrich Böll-Stiftung, Ramallah
Musa Shteiwi, Professor of Sociology, University of Jordan, Amman
Moderator: Sonja Hegasy, political scientist, Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin Language: English and German with simultaneous translation Concept: Ibtesam Al-Atiyat, Thomas Hartmann, Peter C. Seel
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