Arab Women's Activism and Socio-political Transformation ― Unfinished Gendered Revolutions

This book illustrates how Arab women have been engaging in three ongoing, parallel struggles, before, during, and after the Arab Spring, on three levels, namely: the political struggle to pave the road for democracy, freedom, and reform; the social struggle to achieve gender equality and fight all forms of injustice and discrimination against women; and the legal struggle to chart new laws which can safeguard both the political and the social gains. The contributors argue that while the political upheavals were oftentimes more prevalent and visible, they should not overshadow the parallel social and legal revolutions which are equally important, due to their long-term impacts on the region. The chapters shed light on the intersections, overlaps and divergences between these simultaneous, continuous gendered struggles and unpacks their complexities and multiple implications, locally, regionally, and internationally, across different countries and through different phases.

Sahar Khamis is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland, USA. She is an expert on Arab and Muslim media, and the former Head of the Mass Communication and Information Science Department in Qatar University. She is the co-author of two books: Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspace (with M. el-Nawawy, 2009) and Egyptian Revolution 2.0: Political Blogging, Civic Engagement and Citizen Journalism (with M. el-Nawawy, 2013).

Amel Mili is the Director of the Arabic Language and Culture Program at the Lauder Institute, University of Pennsylvania, USA. She holds a JD in private law and an MS in public administration from the University of Tunis, Tunisia, as well as a PhD in global affairs from Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, USA.