Women and the Arab Spring: A Transnational, Feminist Revolution

Abstract

Spanning the Middle East and North Africa region and using real cases, this chapter traces the trajectory of euphoria, backlash, and persistence that has marked women’s participation in the Arab Spring transnational revolution. The chapter reveals how in revolutions, as in wars, norms and values are suspended “for the duration” in order to accommodate necessary breaches of what is normally considered appropriate. It also shows that when the crisis is over, the cultural police try to restore traditional gender norms in an attempt to “squeeze the genie back into the lamp.” The chapter highlights how women in the Middle East and North Africa are learning various lessons from the different revolutions, starting with the Algerian revolution, going through the Palestinian revolution, and moving on to the Arab Spring. For inviting me to present versions of this chapter, I thank Fatima Sadiqi at the Isis Center for Women and Development (Fez, Morocco) and Roxanne Bibizadeh and the Humanities Council at the University of Warwick (England).