CAIRO - Demands of female participants in “Reform Priorities and Mechanisms in the Arab World Conference”, recently held in Cairo, have diversified regarding the priorities of reforming the status of Arab women.

In interviews with IslamOnline.net at the conclusion of the conference, held between July 5-7, some participants complained of discrimination as women are deprived of high management posts, while others advocate the right of girls to be treated on an equal footing with boys.

A third viewpoint said that illiteracy and lack of enlightenment are the most prominent enemies.

Bushra Al-Hajj, a Moroccan activist in the field of defending women’s rights, said that despite the success achieved by women in Morocco in obtaining their indigenous rights, they still have a long way to go to achieve equality with men, particularly with regard to taking over high profile posts.

“The fast-growing fanaticism and extravagance phenomena in the Moroccan community will eventually lead to undermining the gains women have struggled to achieve along the centuries,” she added, pointing out “to the widespread of discrimination inside the same family, demonstrated in the treatment girls receive at the hands of their parents.”

Unemployment

Head of the Egyptian Women Rights Center Nehad Abu El-Qumsan has said that the main obstacles facing Egyptian women are illiteracy and women’s ignorance of their rights that are stipulated under the laws, doubling the sufferings of a large sector of women, particularly in rural areas and in the countryside.

Abu El-Qumsan denies rumors that increasing unemployment rates among the youth are due to women who compete with men over a very limited range of jobs.

She further regarded such rumors as “grave mistakes that could negatively influence the status of Egyptian women in the future.”

Iraqi Fears

Founder of the Iraqi Network for Human Rights and head of the International Arab Women Charity Fund in London Dr. Alia Al-Hamadani has presented a different perspective to the concerns of Iraqi women though.

She said that the past 30 years have resulted in a cruel setback, as Iraqi women suffered a lot due to the absence of their husbands, fathers and sons in three wars.

Al-Hamadani pointed out that her main issue today focuses on how to wipe out the crises and plights of the past era, while dealing cautiously with the values the US occupation seeks to impose on Iraqi women and community.

Regarding political participation, Al-Hamadani said that the status of Iraqi women is better than that of women in some neighboring states.

“Male Interpretation”

Meanwhile, Dalal Al-Barzi, a Lebanese social researcher and writer acknowledged a fluctuation in the status of Arab women and set an example to compare between Lebanese and Gulf women as there is a great difference between both situations.

The former gained most of her rights, while the latter still struggle for even driving a car.

Al-Barzi adds that the male interpretation of some Shari’a (Islamic Law) provisions threatens the status of Arab women. She pointed out that there are still laws in Lebanon that need to be amended to allow women take over high profile posts. The Gulf women have gained no representation in the conference.

The conference has been funded by the World Bank and organized by “The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights”, “Cairo Center for Human Rights Studies” and the “International Politics” magazine affiliated to the Al-Ahram Institution.

Some 50 Arab intellectual and political figures from 13 Arab states took part in the conference.