Saudi woman student conducts advanced solar energy research at Masdar Institute

RIYADH: A Saudi female student from the US has conducted advanced research in solar technology at the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

Samar Alqatari is an engineering physics student with a focus on renewable energy at Stanford.
As a research assistant, Alqatari has spent the summer in the nanoelectronics and photonics labs of Dr. Ammar Nayfeh and Dr. Matteo Chiesa.

Her research focuses on the characterization of zinc oxide using a process called atomic force microscopy, which has the ability to analyze the surface and electric properties of nanomaterials, to look at the topography and conductivity properties of a zinc oxide thin film coating on a silicon wafer.

The results have many applications in electric devices, flexible electronics, and most importantly solar cells, according to a statement from Masdar.

Alqatari received her scholarship from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia to study at Stanford University.

Nayfeh said: “The nanoelectronics and photonics labs at Masdar Institute is the perfect location for promising students such as Samar Alqatari to conduct advanced research.” “Her research has already produced significant results, which we hope will benefit the academia and the solar energy industry.”
Alqatari said the research she conducted at Masdar has many applications in renewable energy, specifically solar power.

She added the institute has provided a stimulating environment for research and innovation.
She added: “The lab environment is very relaxed but at the same time their work on cutting-edge projects remains productive.”

She said Masdar Institute helped her decide on pursuing a career in academia with a focus on solar energy.

Women's Voices on the Arab Spring: Lara Ayoub



Lara Ayoub - News Director, Jordan

 1. Were women’s roles in the Arab Spring more or less meaningful than men’s roles?
Women played an essential role in the Arab Spring that was as important as the role of the men; however, in a region that has always been known to be male dominant, that equivalent role had much more meaning. This had a huge impact on the overall international perception and credibility of the uprising.

2. Have the revolts of the Arab Spring improved the position of women’s rights in the region?
For sure, her role in the Arab Spring forced the respect and acknowledgement of her rights within transformed/reformed countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, and the entire region as well. However, women need to continue playing their vital, visible roles in the development of their communities, as the current transformations happening may compromise her rights.

3. How can the women of the Arab Spring turn this activism into long-term/sustainable gains?
By continuing to voice their opinions and playing their essential roles in their communities on a social, economical and political level, without accepting any compromises, women today can demonstrate that they are an active 50% of the population and will always have 50% of the say.

Women's Voices on the Arab Spring: Fida Ouri



Fida Ouri - Media Strategist, Palestine

 1. Were women’s roles in the Arab Spring more or less meaningful than men’s roles?

I think this depends on the country. For example, we haven’t noticed the presence of women in the Syrian revolt as much as we saw it in Egypt, Yemen, and, maybe, Libya. Women's roles in Egypt in the revolt have been as important as men's, and we saw them as university students, housewives, elderly women — united and all fighting for the same cause.

2. Have the revolts of the Arab Spring improved the position of women’s rights in the region?

I think it is too early to tell; time will show, as we see changes in legislation in favor of women. Generally, I believe women are taking part in the Arab Spring to improve their position on all levels, whether economic, social or political. In Tunisia, now we have seen that women are skeptical of their future and of their rights being reversed after the Arab Spring.

3. How can the women of the Arab Spring turn this activism into long-term/sustainable gains?

Women in the Arab world should ensure that policies and regulations are changed on the long run in their favor. Also, women must ensure their full participation in the political, economic and social life to guarantee that those gains or achievements are there forever.

Women's Voices on the Arab Spring: Manal Al-Sharif



Manal Al-Sharif - Driving Advocate, Saudi Arabia

 1. Were women’s roles in the Arab Spring more or less meaningful than men’s roles?

It's unfair to put men and women opposite to each other in any comparison. So we should shift from the competitive "more" and "less" to see how they complement each other in the Arab Spring! Each play a vital and unique role that can't be played by the other. I believe if the Arabs succeeded in achieving liberty and human and political rights in their spring, women's rights would be part of that for sure.

2. Have the revolts of the Arab Spring improved the position of women’s rights in the region?

It's too early to tell, as each country and revolution is different. But so far, my thoughts about it go to the favor of countries like Tunisia, which granted women the freedom of choice to wear hijab, or veil. But they are not in the favor of allowing parties like the Muslim Brotherhood their goal of canceling Egypt's Family Law (known as Suzanne's Law) because they claim it's against Islamic Sharia. In countries like Saudi Arabia, where we lack any form of "Personal Status Laws," we are pushing to regulate it as soon as possible, while it makes me concerned that Egypt could go backwards. In Libya, they are canceling the women’s quota in the Parliament, and that also takes women’s status backwards.

3. How can the women of the Arab Spring turn this activism into long-term/sustainable gains?
This is the best time for women to claim their rights and to be fully engaged in the human and political rights movements in their countries. I am hoping this will lead to the placing of more and more active women in decision-making bodies when things settle down. More women will be inspired to speak up and break the societal restraints imposed on them. Those women should then act as the guardians and voices for women's rights in the new governments. I am also hoping to see the first Arab woman president. All these can be factors to sustain gains for women's rights.

The Colors of the Arabian Woman

Her house in Amman is like a fashion hall, an artistic museum. Fine artistic works by Arabs, mostly Iraqis - paintings, jewelry and accessories - furnish the house. In a corner of the living room is a decorated wooden closet. The Iraqi artist and fashion designer, Hana Sadek, greeted us in her house in Amman in the basement which is like Ali Baba's cave. She is no ordinary clothes designer. She entered the profession via the plastic arts. Before she designed clothing, she traveled the Arab world in search of traditional fashion and she ended up writing an academic study of Arab dress and jewelry. She is a painter and a poet. Al-Jamela met her in her house in Amman for the following interview.

Q: Is it necessary to use a designed dress?

A: The question is related to art. Someone could ask if it is necessary to hang a painting in your house or have sculpture there? Is it necessary to listen to music? The same thing applies to fashion. Artistically designed fashion is an elegant and fine art; it is not a need but it becomes a necessity when we wear it. As for me, I do not want to wake up in the morning and see things reflecting bad taste and ugliness. When I go to an occasion, I want to see women wearing beautifully designed clothes. Women have a tendency to change and if the change is beautiful, they will accept it.

Q: Do you think that Arab women know how to choose the right dress?

A: No they do not. I try to draw out the beauty of the Arab woman's body. Arab women's bodies have unique features that we do not see in western bodies. Bodies have flaws and my job is to conceal them and show beauty. Some women ask to hide the hips. Due to the types of food we eat and the fact that we do not exercise regularly, many of us do not have good figures.

Q: In your mind, what are the standard measurements of the Arab woman body?

A: Arab women walk attractively. When they wear western clothes, their walk changes because western clothes were not designed for them. When they wear Arabic styles, they feel that the walk suits the clothes and adds softness and gentleness. They have their own magic but unfortunately most clothes designers do not concentrate on that magic. When I asked why I had received a fashion award in Rome, I was told, "Because you succeeded in showing women's femininity without showing their bodies."

Q: You mentioned femininity. What do you mean?

A: I am of the sixties generation, a generation that asked for freedom and equality with men. We strove hard not to show our femininity, thinking if we did that we would lose our case against men. I regretted this when I grew up because I was not able to enjoy and display my femininity and coquettishness. I regretted not dressing in Arab clothes which illustrate sweetness and mystique. The most beautiful thing in a woman is mystery.

Q: Other than clothes, do you design accessories and jewelry?

A: I have loved silver ever since I was a child. When I grew up, my mother refused to let me wear silver jewelry because I was from a family which believed I should always wear gold. I bought silver pieces, especially old ones with symbols that do not exist in gold jewelry. I began collecting silver pieces from Arabian cities. Sometimes I design my own silver pieces to go with a dress. At the beginning, customers refused to accept these pieces, thinking they were old or because they preferred gold. Later, customers began asking me for the right piece for their dress. The most important thing is to put the right piece with the dress, a piece that has meaning.

Q: Arab design is very poor in terms of color but you use colors generously and your designs are extremely colorful.

A: I got the idea of using a lot of color from the bedouin who use contrasting colors in their dress. They use the natural colors surrounding them.

Q: Are there specific colors that Arab women prefer?
A: Arab women love colors in general. They love bright colors so I would say red and yellow.
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New TV channel run exclusively by fully veiled women

After graduating from the mass communication department of Cairo University, Heba Seraq-Eddin couldn't find a job. Potential employers turned her down, she says, because of her veil. Heba wears the niqab, the black fabric that covers her whole face, except for the eyes.

"I used to tell them I won't appear on camera, my niqab won't be visible," recalls Serag-Eddin, trained as a director and camera operator. But there were no job offers and she felt that the networks rejected the very concept of the niqab in the workplace.

Then she came across an ad for a new TV channel called Maria, run exclusively by niqab-clad women. She was hired right away.

Maria, the first channel of its kind anywhere, kicked off with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on July 20. Until it gets more funding and staff, it's a daily four-hour broadcast on its mother channel, Al-Omma, an independent channel seen in the Middle East.

In an apartment in the eastern Cairo district of Abasya, the female volunteers of Maria share two studios with Al-Omma's staff. Men occasionally help move the colored wooden panels on set and perform other technical chores. And Islam Abdallah, Al-Omma's executive director, steps in to offer advice on how to talk to the camera.

While new hires are being trained, the station is using the skills of other women who favor the hijab -- the veil that's more like a head scarf -- to help. But the objective is to depend solely on niqab-clad women. So far, they all work as volunteers.

"I felt that we finally have a place in society after being marginalized. As women wearing niqab, we had no rights, and no one to talk about us. Through Maria, we'll find people like us talking about us, with no discrimination," Seraq-Eddin says.

The niqab has sparked many debates about discrimination over the years. Public universities' ban of them during exams or in dormitories were the subject of numerous court battles and were condemned by advocacy groups. Women often complain of an unwelcoming job market with an unwritten discrimination.
Maria director Alaa Abdallah says that being part of the TV project showed her and other team members that they did, indeed, have the skills for the job.

"We are trying to create a better society after the earthquake of freedom that was January 25," Alaa Abdallah explains. She says Egypt's intellectuals should support her right to speak up and her right to give a marginalized segment of society a voice.

One of those intellectuals is not convinced. The network taps into the rhetoric of women's empowerment, says Adel Iskandar, media scholar at Georgetown University, but there is a "very strong case to be made that it's a gimmick."

Others are worried that the rise of political Islam in Egypt will radicalize the society. They argue that a TV network that features only women with covered faces is a "U-turn" on the path of the so-called Arab uprising.

Alaa Abdallah says she avidly supports freedom of expression, but wouldn't grant her critics the same leeway she demands. "I stand by freedom of expression as long as it isn't hostile to Islam," she says, arguing that "secular and liberal" channels are "destructive" in the way they are promoting ideas that would reshape society.



Abu Islam Abdallah, Alaa's father and the owner of Al-Omma, believes he's restoring the balance. By stressing the niqab, he believes he evens out what he describes as the "racism" against these women.
He describes as heretic the type of democratic system that allows women "to dress immodestly, work as dancers and even be members of Parliament." That's "pandemonium," he says.

Al-Omma -- which means the nation -- is full of "anti-Christianization" rhetoric. There is less of that on Maria, named for the woman thought to have been the prophet Mohammed's Coptic wife. Its female-oriented, cultural programming "within a religious framework," as Alaa Abdallah describes it, might even have greater potential than Al-Omma and its donation-based funding model.

Maria caters to a niche market untapped even by ultraconservative channels, according to Iskandar. But normalizing the appearance of women covered from head to toe in black could be a double-edged sword. "It takes away from their mystique, their exoticism," he argues.

Others believe Maria might end up isolating the niqab "community" and only underline the controversy over the full veil.

Either way, the biggest challenge, according to Iskandar, will be to overcome what may be visually dull presentation with creative content.

2012′s Most Influential Arab women revealed

The 2012 Arabian Business Power 500 contains more women than ever before, with a record 105 making the list of the world’s most influential Arabs.

Reem Asaad, the Saudi women who launched a campaign for women to be allowed to work in lingerie shops in the Kindgom, is the highest ranked woman in third spot. Another Saudi woman, the children’s cancer specialist Dr Khawla Al Kuraya is ranked 9 on the list, one place ahead of UAE Minister of Foreign Trade,  Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi.

The Bahrani doctor Rular Saffar, who was jailed by the authorities during last year’s riots, is ranked eleventh, with two more women in the top 20 – the Yememi activist Tawakkul Karman in thirteenth place, and Saudi medical researcher Hayat Sindi in 19 place.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed topped the Arabian Business Power List for the eighth successive year.
Emirates Airline chairman Sheikh Ahmed was ranked second. Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar was fourth on the list, with the Libyan activist Mohammed Nabbous in fifth place. Nabbous was the founder of Libya Al Hurra TV in Benghazi,  the first independent broadcast news organization since Gaddafi took power in Libya. The 28 year old was killed last year by Pro-Gaddafi forces.

Arab women in sport: 'There will be no more barriers for us'

From Saudi basketballers to Qatari shooters, a new exhibition celebrates Arab sportswomen in all their diversity. Huma Qureshi hears their inspiring stories.

Maysan Mamoun has a dream that one day she and all other Saudi women will be able to play sport openly.
"I don't think this will last forever," she says, referring to the restrictions in place on Saudi women, who are not even allowed inside sports clubs, let alone to play for them. "We are pioneers. We will open doors."
Mamoun is the co-captain of the Green Team, a women's basketball team in Saudi Arabia. The only way the team can play is in private - they practice in the back garden of their other captain, Maysan Al Sowayigh. Al Sowayigh persuaded her parents to convert the space into a court for her so that the team would have somewhere to play.

Mamoun is speaking directly into a camera, filmed by a French documentary maker, Marian Lacombe. The interview forms part of Hey'Ya (which translates as 'Let's Go'), a free exhibition in central London that celebrates Arab women in sport, from amateurs to Olympians.

The videos complement dramatic large-scale photographs of more than 50 Arab sportswomen taken by Marian's sister, the photographer Brigitte Lacombe.

The footage was taken long before Saudi eventually agreed to send two women to the Olympics and gives an insight into the determination of Saudi women fighting for the simple right to play sport, despite the discrimination they face.

The Green Team is trying to convince families to let their daughters train with them, but says it's not an easy task in a country where sport is banned for girls in public schools.

"There was a sense of frustration among some of the women," says Brigitte, who travelled with her sister to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Morocco to photograph and film the women. "But what is so remarkable is how they kept their focus. They will do what it takes to be able to participate in sport. I was humbled by their determination, smartness and dignity."

The Lacombe sisters were commissioned by the Qatar Museums Authority, which will be showing Hey'Ya in Doha next spring. Recently, Qatari authorities have been making an effort to prove to the International Olympics Committee that they are not discriminating or restricting women from participating in sports, as they prepare to bid for the 2024 Games. This year, Qatar is sending four women to the Olympics for the first time ever.

One of them is Noor Al Malki, a 17-year-old sprinter who is competing in the women's 100m. She has also been photographed and filmed for the exhibition. In one portrait, Al Malki is on the floor, stretching out in her sports gear, while in another, she poses side-on in the tight bandana she wears to cover her hair while running. In a video clip, Al Malki says she was too shy to run without her normal veil at first, but her brothers encouraged her. "They said just be strong."

Also featured in the exhibition are Hania Fouda, an Egyptian archer whose hands are painted with henna, and Feta Ahamada, an athlete from Comoros, a majority Muslim country off the coast of Mozambique who will also be competing in the women's 100m at the Olympics. Ahamada runs in a cropped athletic top and shorts. "If covering your body or your hair makes you feel comfortable, it's not a handicap," she says to the camera. "It's only sport. Everyone should do want they want."

Some of the women photographed are fully covered but most are not. "I want people to see the diversity of women in the Arab world. They are not all the same," says Lacombe, who spent seven months on the project.

Seventeen-year-old Reem Al Sharsani from Qatar missed out on an Olympics place this year in her sport, shooting, but has come to London for the start of the Games. She believes things are changing for young women of her generation; her older sister Yasmian plays golf and set up the Qatar Golf for Women club. Both were photographed by Lacombe.

"Before, women couldn't go out or do sports, but then everything changed when the Asian Games came to Qatar in 06. That's when women started realising it was possible to play too. Now I have a lot of support."
Yasmian, who wears a flowing black robe, agrees. "I'm so proud of all these women. I want to show the world we can do anything, even if we are covered. There will be no more barriers for us."

Jordan’s Queen Rania on Arab women

Many of the questions and stereotypes received had to do with women — specifically empowerment, violence, and honor crimes. Here’s a clip where Queen Rania discusses these issues.

Saudi women begin work in cosmetics shops

Six months after Saudi women were granted the right to work at lingerie stores, Saturday saw them achieve another first when they began work as saleswomen in cosmetic shops.

By implementing this decision, the Saudi ministry of labor hopes to open new employment opportunities for women.

Last year, Saudi King Abdullah had issued a resolution concerning women’s employment in stores ordered the withdrawal of all male employees from store premises within six months.

Hundreds of the ministry’s inspectors placed commercial stores under intensive surveillance to assess their situation and their commitment to the King’s directive.

While larger stores were able to implement the directives, smaller stores chose to remove the cosmetic sections from their premises.

The development assistant deputy minister of the ministry of labor, Fahd al-Takhifi, said “We sent clear instructions to the ministry of labor and business men to clarify the requirements needed for the future. We will not allow any man to sell lingerie or cosmetic products to women anymore,” he added.

Takhifi said it would take a few months to know how many women had benefitted from this resolution. “It is impossible to compel an employer to hire a definite number of female employees. Some stores will be working part-time and others will close their doors. But only women should work in these shops,” he said.
He said the labor offices will start their inspection tours on Sunday. “The conditions of implementation are strict; the number of women working in a section of a store including more than one department should not be less than three. The department where women work should be independent from other departments. It is wrong to just replace men with women employees, women’s departments should also be isolated,” he said.

Commitment and closure

Large perfume and cosmetics stores have committed to the directives without committing to the ministries conditions.

The manager of Bakshan Perfume Company in Al Waha Mall in Dammam, Jalal Mahdi Bashir, said they were working to implement the ruling, adding that they had “started hiring Saudi women. We hired one this morning and will be recruiting another one tomorrow in accordance to the new system.”

Small shops on the other hand have had to close their cosmetics and make-up departments because they were not able to meet the new resolution’s provisions. These shops’ income does not allow them to hire more staff.

The owner of Nahr Al Fayrouzi perfume shop in Dammam, Muhammad Ali, said: “We decided to close our cosmetic section because we cannot afford hiring women in this section; work is already slow and low in revenue.”

In the same context, owner of a small perfumery in Riyadh Hussein al-Shuweia said that he couldn’t hire Saudi women in the cosmetic section because he has a small shop that merely generates income. Thus, he preferred to close the cosmetic section and keep the perfume section. “With all due respect to the new resolution, I couldn’t commit to it. Many of my colleagues who own small shops did the same which will pave the way for megastores to monopolize the market.”

Strict conditions

The ministry of labor has set strict rules and conditions to guarantee the success of this venture, especially in light of the differences in the concept of multi-sections stores and the appropriate mechanism to change the stores’ conditions.

Last Saturday, the ministry issued a circular for all offices and businesses in which it gave clear guidelines on how to implement the resolution. For example, it is prohibited to hire men in lingerie and cosmetic shops and all employees should be Saudi women. The store owner should only allow access for families or women provided that women accessories sections are equipped with shutters to segregate men.

A female employee should wear decent clothes in her work place.

Multi-sectional stores (that sell both cosmetics and women’s lingerie) can either employ 100 percent Saudi female staff or remove the products targeted by the ministerial resolution on “lingerie and cosmetics stores”, unless the store owner is willing to hire Saudi female employees.

Saudis are starting to accept this new resolution more than they did when the resolution on women selling lingerie was issued. A female vendor is no longer a strange phenomenon in Saudi society but the resolution needs some time to be fully accepted.

Kingdom’s career women search for extra Ramadan housemaids

As Ramadan draws near, many working women begin the relentless search for housemaids, focusing mainly on illegal workers.

Sawsan, a service representative at a local company, told Arab News: “During the holy month, there are extra demands such as cooking, cleaning and entertaining visitors.
“It is very difficult for me to accomplish all that is required and report to work daily without extra household help.”

She stated that she already has a maid, but has been searching for a second one for three weeks to no avail.
“Most maids I have spoken to usually ask for SR 1,000 to SR 1,200, but now want at least SR 3,000 for the month if cooking is included and SR 2,500 if only cleaning is required.

“This is a very high price as my salary is only SR 4,500.”

Due to the opportunities to earn a fat paycheck, often triple what they usually make, many maids deliberately wait until Ramadan to run away from their sponsors.

Some families, afraid of losing their domestic workers, even resort to locking the maids inside during Ramadan.

Enas, a Saudi doctor at a government hospital, said: “I have experienced problems in the past with runaway maids, especially during Ramadan.

“This is why I began locking all the outside doors and have barred the windows to create a secure environment and keep the maid from running away when I am at work and during the night.” She added the maid is free to move about the home as she pleases, but she cannot go outside.

When asked why she thinks locking the maid in is acceptable, she replied: “I feel I have the right to do what is necessary since I am the sponsor responsible for the housemaid.

“If she runs away I will be the one who has to pay the extra charges and burdened with extra household chores.

“I will also have to wait months before a replacement can be recruited.”

The pool of illegal maids is believed to have dwindled this year due to tighter restrictions on Umrah visas, often used by foreigners to gain access to the Kingdom for employment purposes.

This is in addition to the Kingdom’s ban on the recruitment of domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia implemented last year.

According to the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), sponsors of runaway maids can be fined up to SR 10,000 and the maid deported if caught by local authorities.
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Saudi girls impress NZ women

A cultural program recently organized by Saudi girl students in Wellington impressed New Zealanders as it removed their misconceptions about Saudi women and their achievements.

Nineteen Saudi girls took part in the program, which explained the various roles and aspects of Saudi women.

New Zealand women who attended the program called for organizing such events at least twice a year.
Erin, an official at Victoria University, said: “I have attended many programs organized by foreign students in Victoria University but none of them reached the standard of program presented by the Saudi girls.”

Laila Faden and Batoul Al-Saif played a leadership role in the program supervised by Dr. Sattam Al-Otaibi, Saudi cultural attaché in New Zealand.

Fatma Fuhaida, Zainab Al-Hussein and Afnan Al-Ajlan spoke about outstanding Saudi women and their achievements.

They also highlighted the gains of Saudi girls in Wellington.

Fatma Al-Saif, Linda Al-Dadi, Manal Al-Nasser and Dhuha Al-Asheikh explained the traditions from the birth of a child until marriage while Narjis Al-Khabbaz, Maha Al-Fehaid, Batoul Al-Saif and Amani Ateef explained how Saudi mothers bring up their small children, singing songs, telling stories and reciting from the Holy Qur’an.

Zahra Al-Saif and Ameena Al-Yousuf presented on how Saudis welcome their guests and ensure their comfort.

More Saudi women traveling without male companions

A few years ago, it was not acceptable for a Saudi girl to travel abroad alone, and if she did, it was discreetly. This, however, is no longer the case.

Attitudes towards Saudi girls traveling on their own has undergone a substantial shift and now the number of young girls traveling without a male companion has remarkably increased.

A girl may have to travel on her own without a male relative for several reasons, said Saza al-Nasser, an employee in a private company in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“Sometimes it is difficult for a girl and her accompanying male relative to have the same days off,” she said.
Some girls, she added, like to go through the experience of being abroad on their own to see how they would manage and how independent they can be.

“A girl who travels on her own also feels free and can go anywhere she wants like shopping and going out with friends without having to get the approval of that relative.”

Nasser called upon Saudi girls to try traveling on their own because it is bound to shape their personality.

“A girl becomes stronger and learns how to deal with emergencies when she has no one to help and arrange her life.”

Nasser pointed out that traveling abroad is easier than traveling within the country.

“The schedule of domestic trips is not as organized as what you have in foreign countries.”

For Saudi journalist Maisaa al-Amoudi, it is very normal for a Saudi girl to travel abroad alone.

“Now women are equal to men,” she said. “They have a career and this sometimes necessitates that they go abroad to attend conferences for example.”

Amoudi argued that traveling for shopping or sightseeing is not different than going abroad to work or study.
“A woman is a human being who has the right to lead a normal life exactly like a man.”

Depriving women from traveling on their own, she added, is because of the accumulation of social values that view such an action as unacceptable.

“It also implies lack of awareness of other people’s rights and this sometimes is taken too far it almost amounts to racism some times.”

Girls started traveling alone five years ago when the law allowing them to study abroad on their own was issued, said Mohamed Maghrabi, the general manager of a travel agency.

“This made it more acceptable for society and parents too gradually approved of their daughters traveling on their own,” he said.

Maghrabi added that the number of girls traveling alone is still small compared to men.

“The number of girls has so far increased by 15 percent and it is still going up every year.”

Regarding the most popular destinations for girls, Maghrabi said they usually prefer nearby countries.

“Most of them go to Dubai, Beirut, or Sharm al-Sheikh since they are all close, especially since the trip does not usually exceed five days.”

Mideast women beat men in education, lose out at work

In nearly two thirds of Middle Eastern countries, there are more women than men in university, according to United Nations statistics.

This is a giant step towards -- and in many cases beyond -- one of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals: to eliminate gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015.

While most women's rights campaigners welcome the progress in education, many are concerned it does not translate into greater equality in the workplace.

"The gender gap has been closed in education in many Arab countries, which is a big achievement of recent years," said Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, Director of the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World at the Lebanese American University.

"It's very recent," she added. "Even in the 1990s there was a big gender gap in education. However, there's a paradox that we have a lot of women getting a higher education and they are still too absent from the workforce and politics.

"The idea that education is key to more women reaching positions of power has not materialized."

Religion is not the biggest enemy for Arab women, poll finds

In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize last year, Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman thanked women of the Arab world for her medal. Without their struggle to win equal rights, she would not be there, she said.
The greatest challenge in that quest is not religion but the lack of economic and social development and a dearth of perceived security, said a Gallup Poll released Monday.

"The idea that coming in with a secular liberal social program as the solution to fixing how societies view women isn't supported by the evidence," said Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.

She said the women in the Middle East have very much the same priorities as women in America. They want to lead prosperous lives.

"The research shows that human development and overall education and economic empowerment are the most important interventions we can make to help women's rights," Mogahed said.

The Gallup report urged policymakers to allow Arab women's own priorities to guide efforts at gender equality.

Gallup conducted multiple surveys of 1,000 people each time in Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya.

The data was collected between 2009 and 2011, before the the escalation of violence in Syria this year. In Libya, the surveys began in February 2010 and were restricted to eastern cities and did not include Tripoli.
The survey found that both women and men rate their lives worse now than it was before the Arab Spring but believe they will be better in five years. The exception was in Egypt, where women and men rated their futures higher now than under Hosni Mubarak.

A majority of women in Arab nations said they should have equal legal rights and equal access to education and employment. A majority of men, though smaller, agree, Gallup found.

The biggest divide was in Tunisia, where 87% of women and 59% of men say women and men should have the same legal rights, "which is surprising because it is often hailed as the most progressive Arab state on gender issues," Gallup said.

Also surprising, perhaps, was that Arab women were as likely as their male counterparts to favor sharia or Islamic law as a source of new legislation.

In Egypt, where the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood dominated parliament before it was dissolved, women and men expressed similar support for Islamist parties and movements.

"The current fear of the rise of Islamists is important and we need to address that," Mogahed said. "So we attempted to look at how women feel about religion. There isn't a gender divide."

The Gallup report said male employment and education are linked to more progressive views of women's rights and how men view the role of religion in society had no correlation to their views on gender equality.
Among Arabs who said religion is important, 69% supported divorce initiated by a wife. Among those who did not consider religion important, only 49% supported such divorce.

The greatest barrier to women's participation in public life may be their perception of lack of safety and respect.

GallupHowever, Arab women differ on religion depending on where they are, Gallup found. In Egypt, women are more likely to support an Islamist candidate, for instance, than women in Tunisia, which for years has been a secular state.

Dalia Ziada, who heads a policy research center in Cairo, believes gender equality has to come from political leadership.

"Women's rights will change from the top down. It will not change from grassroots up," said Ziada, executive director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies.

"It's a grassroots movement that has been calling for freedom an economic rights but it did not call for women's rights," she said of the revolutionary movement in Egypt.

She agreed that economic prosperity and education are top priorities for Egyptian woman but the main challenge for women is to become an essential part of the decision-making process.

Ziada spoke from experience.

The 30-year-old activist and blogger marched in the Tahrir Square protests that ousted Hosni Mubarak, but when she ran for parliament last fall on the liberal Justice Party ticket, her male colleagues refused to let her head the ticket, which meant her chances of winning votes were lower.

They told her a woman could not win many votes, she said. She lost the election.

"Men don't envision democracy with women in it," said Ziada. "They say, go back home. It's not your time yet."

Gallup said a third of the protesters in the Egyptian revolution were women but many, like Ziada, feel left out of the nation's transition to democracy.

But Ziada, an observant Muslim, said she remains optimistic that the new president of Egypt will enact policies that empower women.

"That is the only way out," she said.

Some of the transitional Arab governments have recognized women's participation in fomenting change.
The Gallup survey said Tunisia required half of each party's electoral list to be made up of women in last fall's constituent assembly election. Women hold nearly 25% of the seats.

The poll also raised another troubling issue for Arab women: safety.

Women in all the countries surveyed said they feel less safe to walk alone at night after the revolution. The most significant drop was in Tunisia where 78% of women said they felt safe before the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and only 30% said they were safe last fall.

Women in Egypt have reported being sexually assaulted while protesting on the streets and there were accusations of rape and sexual violence used by Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's forces during that country's rebellion.

"The greatest barrier to women's participation in public life may be their perception of lack of safety and respect," Gallup said.

Ziada said she feels scared to be in crowds in Cairo.

"Sexual harassment is real problem that has been happening in Egypt for so long," she said.

The Gallup report urged national leaders to address the perceived lack of safety "to help increase women's confidence to participate in all aspects of life, including politics."

In her Nobel speech, Karman, had addressed many of the issues raised in Gallup's survey.

"The solution to women's issues can only be achieved in a free and democratic society in which human energy is liberated, the energy of both women and men together," she said.

"Our civilization is called human civilization," she said, "and is not attributed only to men or women."

Emiratis want crackdown on women's skimpy dress

In this photo taken Saturday, June 23, 2012, Women of different nationalities walk at the Jumeirah Beach Residence Walk in Dubai , United Arab Emirates. As the numbers of foreigners have increased, so have the stories of them violating the UAE's strict indecency code which limits drinking to bars and nightclubs and bans public displays of affection.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates—With the number of foreigners dwarfing that of locals in her hometown of Abu Dhabi, Asma al-Muhairi has become increasingly anxious at the prospect of her younger nieces abandoning their full-length black robes in favor of Western attire that seems to be everywhere she goes.

But it wasn't until the 23-year-old marketing worker came face to face with two scantily-clad female foreigners at one of the many luxury shopping malls in the United Arab Emirates that she decided to take action.

"While going to a mall, I saw two ladies wearing ... I can't say even shorts. It was underwear," said al-Muhairi, whose black abaya -- a long garment worn by conservative Gulf women -- is offset by a gold Versace watch and egg-shell blue handbag.

"Really, they were not shorts," she said. "I was standing and thinking: `Why is this continuing? Why is it in the mall? I see families. I see kids around.'"

Failing to persuade the mall to intervene, al-Muhairi and another Emirati woman, Hanan al-Rayes, took to Twitter to air their concerns in May.

They were inundated with responses that prompted them to launch a Twitter campaign dubbed (at)UAEDressCode that aims to explore ways to combat the growing number of shoppers in low-cut dresses and hot pants.

As the campaign picked up steam, it also has served to symbolize the growing concerns among Emiratis, a tiny minority in their own country.

Emirati citizens account for a little more than 10 percent of the 8 million people living in the Gulf nation. Most of the population is made up of Asian, African and Middle Eastern guest workers, as well as Western expatriates living here temporarily.

The overall population more than doubled over the past decade as the country embarked on a building boom that transformed Dubai, up the coast from Abu Dhabi, into the Arabian Gulf's financial hub and a popular tourist draw.

"I think in an increasingly tumultuous region and in an era of powerful and often intrusive globalizing forces, citizens of the UAE are increasingly concerned that their traditions and core values are being eroded," said Christopher Davidson, an expert on Gulf affairs at Britain's Durham University.

"In some senses, it is a grassroots reaction to authorities and leaders that have for many years done little to check this erosion," he added. "We've seen reactions to alcohol, so now we are seeing a reaction to immodest dress."

Jalal Bin Thaneya, an Emirati activist who has embraced the dress code campaign, said it is a way for Emiratis to show they are concerned about the loss of traditions.

"If we were the majority and had the same make up, things would be different," Bin Thaneya said. "You wouldn't need anything. You would see Emiratis everywhere and you would be afraid of offending them ... Now, we're a minority so you feel the need to reach out to an authority."

As the number of foreigners has increased, so have the stories of them violating the UAE's strict indecency code, which limits drinking to bars and nightclubs and bans public displays of affection. A drunken couple was caught having sex on the beach and another allegedly having sex in a taxi. A Pakistani was deported for flipping the middle finger at a motorist, and the courts are filled with cases of foreigners having sex out of wedlock.

Most Emiratis rarely come face-to-face with misbehaving foreigners.

The malls, however, are a different story.

They are one of the few places where everyone comes together to escape the brutal summer heat. The cultural clash is hard to ignore, as families of traditionally dressed Emiratis shop and relax in cafes alongside foreign women wearing tank tops, shorts and even transparent gowns over bikinis.

Most malls have policies in place that require "conservative" dress and encourage shoppers to avoid showing shoulders and knees, but few publicize them or enforce them. Police in Dubai, where the mall that al-Muhairi visited was located, didn't respond to a request for comment. They told the Gulf News newspaper there is nothing they can do since there are no specific laws against immodest dress.

"People were seeing it for a long time but they didn't say anything," Bin Thaneya said. "You can't go to the police for such stuff. There is no one to go to. You can't go to the mall management. The mall security guard gets paid less than someone at McDonald's. He isn't going to do anything."

Al-Muhairi's campaign is just one of several over the years led by Emirati women who have tried in vain to enforce the dress code -- handing out brochures, confronting foreigners. But hers has benefited from the growing popularity of social media as well as the Arab Spring popular uprisings, which has given Emiratis a sense they can speak out on some social issues.

The UAEDressCode feed has more than 3,300 followers with a lively discussion that includes plenty of support for a code but also concerns that it would unfairly target foreigners or create divisions between locals and foreigners. Unlike similar campaigns in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, the impetus for a code has not come from Islamic hard-liners, but from moderate locals like al-Muhairi who love their Starbucks and Western movies but just want foreigners to respect local customs.

"We are not asking others to cover up like us. We are giving them freedom based on their beliefs and religion," al-Muhairi said. "We are not judging and saying this shows she has other interests. We never want to judge. Do whatever you want and wear what you want but with limits. Just respect the public here."
The campaign has caught the attention of the Federal National Council, which pledged last month to push for stronger measures to enforce the dress codes. That came after the country's culture minister, Abdulrahman al-Owais, supported efforts to emphasize the conservative traditions of the UAE.

Members of a half-elected, half-appointed council have suggested a law could include warnings and fines but not jail time for offenders. But the FNC has no law-making powers, so any decision now rests with the UAE government.

"If there is a law, the behavior will be different," said Hamad al-Rahoomi, an FNC member who compared a UAE dress code to laws in France that bans the niqab, in which a veil has only a slit exposing a woman's eyes, or the new dress code at Royal Ascot in Britain that aims to limit provocative outfits.

"We don't want to catch people. We just want people to think of the other parties," al-Rahoomi said. "What I want is to go with my family in my country and not see something that is harming me."

The Abu Dhabi police issued this week a booklet on dos and don'ts for tourists that will be available at the Abu Dhabi International Airport and hotels, according to The National newspaper. It advises tourists that public displays of affection including kissing are considered indecent and that they should wear "modest" clothing.

Tourists -- some in skimpy summer dresses, others in shorts and T-shirts -- defended their right to wear what they want, either because it is fashionable or keeps them cool in the summer heat. None of the 10 people interviewed in Dubai and Abu Dhabi knew about a mall dress code, nor were they advised their outfits violated it. Several said a dress code law would go too far.

"I think it's ridiculous because most of the people in Dubai are tourists," said Sarah, a 21-year-old tourist from Kenya wearing a short dress exposing her shoulders and legs. "I want to go somewhere where I would be comfortable in my own skin as a travel destination. I feel comfortable like this and this is how I will dress."

Kuwait’s Hijab Style For Girls 2012

Actually it seems great and stylish. All thing is covered other then at the similar way its looks creative & trendy scarves style. I really love this kuwait hijab style. The Kuwaiti hijab design is one of the latest enhancements to current hijab to these days ! It is appropriate for all age groups, even though this hijab style is very popular among the fourteen to thirteen five years old women. The kwuait hijab style is one of the trendy style to wear . Lets check out the latest trend of Hijab in Kuwait.

First Arab Woman to Become NASA Researcher

NASA has appointed its membership to a Saudi academic Dr. Majdah Aburass, making her the first Arab woman to join its research team of scientists and Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Rashid, was appointed as a member of the regional research team. Abura holds a doctorate degree from the University of Surrey in environmental studies and biotechnology from UK University and specializing in oil pollutions.

“I chose to focus my research on petroleum since it is one of the most important sources of energy in the Kingdom,” she said.

But it was actually a dead bird that caused her to become interested in the environment. “In 2003 the bird flu virus was spreading around the world, and one day I found a dead bird in my garden. I felt that I wanted to know the cause of the bird’s death and whether it posed a danger to humans, so I decided to take it to a scientific laboratory.”

 Muhammad Ibrahim al-Rashid, president of NASA affiliate the Gulf American Foundation for Space said that ”it was the result of her continuous work for the environment to solve its problems”.

As for her new role, she said her appointment came as a result of a collaboration with NASA on a project that she hopes will be implemented in the near future. She was the first Saudi lady selected to be an environmental ambassador.

She is also member of many social organizations such as Women’s Committee, King Research Center, Jeddah Governorate Higher, Governorate Urban Observatory Council and National Research Center in Egypt.

Kuwaiti Woman Politician Calls for Men to be Allowed Sex Slaves – Using Non-Muslim Female Prisoners

A Kuwaiti woman who once ran for parliament has called for sex slavery to be legalized – and suggested that non-Muslim prisoners from war-torn countries would make suitable concubines.

Salwa al-Mutairi’s suggestions have provoked anger and disbelief

Salwa al Mutairi argued buying a sex-slave would protect decent, devout and ‘virile’ Kuwaiti men from adultery because buying an imported sex partner would be tantamount to marriage.

And she even had an idea of where to ‘purchase’ these sex-slaves – browsing through female prisoners of war in other countries.

The political activist and TV host even suggested that it would be a better life for women in warring countries as the might die of starvation.

Mutairi claimed: ‘There was no shame in it and it is not haram’ (forbidden) under Islamic Sharia law.’

She gave the example of Haroun al-Rashid, an 8th century Muslim leader who ruled over an area covered by modern-day Iran, Iraq and Syria and was rumored to have 2,000 concubines.

Mutairi recommended that offices could be opened to run the sex trade in the same way that recruitment agencies provide housemaids.

She suggested shopping for prisoners of war so as to protect Kuwaiti men from being tempted to commit adultery or being seduced by other women’s beauty.

‘For example, in the Chechnyan war, surely there are female Russian captives,’ she said.

‘So go and buy those and sell them here in Kuwait. Better than to have our men engage in forbidden sexual relations.’

Her unbelievable argument for her plan was that ‘captives’ might ‘just die of hunger over there’.

She insisted, ‘I don’t see any problem in this, no problem at all’.

In an attempt to consider the woman’s feelings in the arrangement, Mutari conceded that the enslaved women, however, should be at least 15.

Mutairi said free women must be married with a contract but with concubines ‘the man just buys her and that’s it. That’s enough to serve as marriage.’

Her remarks, made in a video posted on YouTube last month and carried by newspapers in the Gulf States in recent days, have sparked outrage in cyber-space from fellow Kuwaitis and others in the wider region.

‘Wonder how Salwa al Mutairi would’ve felt if during the occupation (of Kuwait) by Iraqi forces, she was sold as ‘war booty’ as she advocates for Chechen women,’ tweeted Mona Eltahawy.

Another tweeter, Shireen Qudosi, told Mutairi ‘you’re a disgrace to women everywhere’.

For Muna Khan, an editor at the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television station, the ‘icing on the cake’ of Mutairi’s ‘preposterous views’ was her assertion that her suggestions do not conflict with the tenets of Islam.

Mutairi said that during a recent visit to Mecca, she asked Saudi muftis – Muslim religious scholars – what the Islamic ruling was on owning sex slaves. They are said to have told her that it is not haram.

The ruling was confirmed by ‘specialized people of the faith’ in Kuwait, she claimed.

‘They said, that’s right, the only solution for a decent man who has the means, who is overpowered by desire and who does not want to commit fornication, is to acquire jawari.’ Jawari is the plural of the Arabic term jariya, meaning ‘concubine’ or ‘sex slave’.

One Saudi mufti supposedly told Mutairi: ‘The context must be that of a Muslim nation conquering a non-Muslim nation, so these jawari have to be prisoners of war.’

Concubines, she argued, would suit Muslim men who fear being ‘seduced or tempted into immoral behavior by the beauty of their female servants’.

Qatar's first female Olympians on target to make history

Bahiya Al-Hamad is a 19-year-old college student and air-rifle shooter who is about to make history for her country.

When she travels to London to take part in the Olympic Games this summer, she will be part of the first group of Qatari women ever to compete at the Olympics.

Qatar is one of only three countries -- the others are Saudi Arabia and Brunei -- which have never sent female athletes to an Olympics Games. This year, three women will represent Qatar at London 2012. The others are swimmer Nada Arkaji and sprinter Noor al-Malki.

All three women have been given wild cards, but there is still a weight of expectation that is not lost of Al-Hamad.

"It's an accomplishment for every Qatari woman," she said. "I hope I can live up to their expectation."

Training at her shooting club outside Qatar's capital Doha, Al-Hamad added: "Every athlete's dream is to reach the Olympics."

Competing in London in July and August will be a high point in her life as well as a historic moment for Qatar. "I will be very excited to go see the atmosphere there and it will sure be one the most special days of my life," she said.

Qatar's first female Olympians Al-Hamad has won several regional competitions in the 10-meter rifle shooting category, but missed out on automatically qualifying for London 2012 by half a point. She said she was asleep when she received a call to say she had been awarded a wild card.

"I wanted to scream," she said. "I really loved it. I was optimistic, but never expected to reach the Olympics.

"My dream when it comes to shooting is to be the Olympic or world champion."

One of her shooting club colleagues, Ali Rashid al-Mohannadi, 21, Gulf and Arab champion, and a senior engineering student, said he has nothing but respect for Al-Hamad.

"I think women now are better than us," he said. "I'm very happy, because she's a talented shooter. I'm very happy for her, and I hope she does well in the Olympic Games."

However, not everyone in his socially conservative country feel the same.

"I feel men don't realize the idea yet, but it depends," said Al-Hamad. "Some of them are OK with it, some are not. They say 'you're a girl and you shoot?'"

She added: "Before, shooting was only for guys but now it became normal for females to an extent. When they saw women emerging in shooting they became a little bit more accepting."

Also on Inside the Middle East: Iraqi artist inspired by George W Bush shoe thrower
Al-Hamad, who is in her foundation year at Qatar University, is now training two hours a day, five days a week with her Uzbeki coach to be ready to compete alongside the world's greatest 10-meter rifle shooters.

"We participated in the junior Olympic Games in Singapore two years back but the result was not good," said her coach, Ivan Shahov. "But I hope with this Olympic Games we have a chance."

Nada Arkaji - Qatari woman prepare for Olympic debut

For the very first time, conservative Gulf Arab state will send female athletes to the Games, in London.

Competing at the Olympics may almost be taken for granted by athletes in some countries, but for others they simply have not had the chance to get there before.

That is now changing in Qatar, which will send female athletes to the London Games for the very first time.

Al Jazeera's Rhodri Davies met one of them, Nada Arkaji, a member of the Gulf Arab state's national swimming team.

Pictures of Women Support for Aboul Fotouh Rallies in Cairo

Afghan woman pushes for rights from behind the wheel

The morning after the Taliban fell Shakila Naderi shed her head-to-toe burqa, sat behind the wheel of a car for the first time and asked her husband to teach her how to drive.

Now Kabul's only female driving instructor, she teaches women a rare skill that confronts harsh opposition in ultra-conservative, Muslim Afghanistan.

"It bothers men when women drive," Naderi, 45, said from behind her desk in her four-room driving school near Kabul's city centre, decorated with traffic signs and instructions in her native Dari.

"But I wasn't scared of them then and I am not scared of them now," she said, adjusting her green headscarf.

Naderi opened the school four years ago with her husband Iqbal Khan, who as a taxi driver took pity on women he saw struggling to find transportation in a country where many will not speak to men other than relatives.

Women have regained rights such as education, voting and work since the removal of the Taliban and their austere rule a decade ago, but they enjoy far less freedom than men.

Women complain of unwanted gazes and physical harassment on the cramped, crowded minibuses that are often the only method of urban public transport.

When Naderi Driving School opened, Naderi received verbal threats from the more conservative sectors of society, who decry driving as un-Islamic for women. Those have died down, she says, but male drivers often taunt her and try to chase her car off the road, sometimes causing her to swerve dangerously.

Families also bar daughters from driving, fearing it could lead them astray. Naderi's own two daughters have been prohibited by their husbands' families from learning to drive.

TAKING CONTROL OF ONE'S LIFE

A white headscarf wrapped around her wrinkled face, student Khanum Gul Obedi, 46, says she wants to take control of her life.

The mother of two teen daughters has a disabled husband and cannot afford to take taxis with fares of 300 Afghani per ride. She walks for hours around Kabul every day dropping her kids off at school and buying food.

"I never opened a book in my life besides the holy Koran, I never entered through the doors of a school," said Obedi, who is illiterate like most Afghan women.

"I got married and felt imprisoned, but now I can control things and I feel like I've been set free."

The school once mustered only one to five students for a 36-day course, a precursor to applying for a licence.

Classes now number up to 80, and some students travel from nearby provinces. In a room filled with car parts and smeared with grease, Naderi also teaches women how to deal with breakdowns.

Naderi and her husband must read out driving manuals to students in a country where more than 80 percent of women cannot read or write, an illiteracy rate double that of men.

Their work has paid off.

Kabul issued a record 312 driving licences to women last year, the traffic department said. Herat in the west and Mazar-e-Sharif in the north gave out 64 and 48 respectively to women taught mainly by other women but also by some men.

The government backs Naderi's school and has encouraged female employees to attend. But the couple's ads on billboards are often defaced or torn down.

"Boys tease me because I want to drive," said college graduate Mersal Nawabi, 21. "But I am encouraged by my brothers and father."

Student Obedi says she would never take driving lessons from a man. "This is Afghanistan. People talk and by having a woman instructor gossip is kept to a minimum".

As Naderi leaves her school and walks towards her car, a group of men nearby scream: "Hey you! We can drive too".

"I react to them as men would," she says with a grimace.

"Once I got out of my car, yelled back and slapped one so hard he bled. Then I got back into the car to teach the girls".

Libyan women hope for gains in elections

Tripoli, Libya - Buoyed by the winds of change sweeping the region, Libyan women are eyeing a far greater role for themselves after next month's national assembly elections.

The June 19 poll - the first since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi - will see the country electing 200 candidates to the body that will draft the country's constitution.

Recent polls in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia have had mixed results for women, and the lessons are not lost on their Libyan counterparts.

In Egypt, parliamentary elections saw less than two per cent of the seats go to women - eight seats, compared to the 64 guaranteed to them by law. It was somewhat better in Tunisia, with 49 women getting elected.

Halloum al-Fallah, an independent candidate hopeful from the eastern city of Benghazi, said Libyan women are taking lessons from the Arab Spring in terms of how to fight for their place in politics.

"We are learning from the mistakes in Egypt and Tunisia, but also learning from what other countries are doing well," said Fallah.

'New journey'

New election rules for the 200 seats up for grabs have reserved 80 seats for parties and 120 for independents.

The candidate list submitted by political parties must contain an equal number of men and women - 40 seats for each - meaning that women could make up at least 20 per cent of the assembly.

There are no limits as to how many women can run as independents, so what will come of the 120 seats is also uncertain.

"The problem right now is that there is no flow of information, not even about how many women have applied to be candidates. We don't have a system of information sharing, or who is doing what, where they are. All we know is that there are positive indications that there are many female candidates," said Farida Allaghi, a rights activist who is coaching potential female candidates on how to debate and present their campaign platforms.

"Even if women don't win, it's the beginning of a new journey for women's political participation."
Party politics

Given that political parties need women on their ballots in order to be eligible for the elections, there is a possibility that parties might approach women who will simply follow the fold rather than push to elevate the status of women in Libya.

"Some political parties will put women on the ballot to get more votes or to be accepted. If I'm elected, I will have to do my bit to motivate them to contribute and to be ambitious," said Salma Ahmed Abu-Zadah, a legal consultant to the military council and potential candidate for Free Democratic Bloc Party, adding that as long as there are women in the assembly, they will work to ensure women's rights are included in the constitution.

"Women's role now is different than it was before, when [Gaddafi] used women to fill seats, to use them for his image... contributing to his regime."

Women rush to question election official Abdulla Fortia after he speaks about the rules for the  polls

The general vibe among women, many of whom found a new place in the community in the course of the revolution, is one of optimism.

Ayshe Rouemi, who hopes to be a candidate for the United for the Nation party, said that since the revolution, "when the chains and shackles were broken", Libyan women have been confident that they will be included in the country's power structure.

"Political parties are looking for women now and women can refuse their offers if we are not happy with their place - we can insist that they be put on the top of the ballot," said Rouemi.

"Just the idea [of] them looking for women for fear of being rejected without us is a good sign."
The changed circumstances have thrown open new opportunities for many.

Nourah Ali Salem El-Hebashi, from Tarhouna - 100km south of Tripoli - applied to run as an independent candidate.

"I am the only person to be nominated to be a candidate from my community - they encouraged me to run," said Hebashi.

Lingering doubts

There are concerns, however, that a single party, possibly the Muslim Brotherhood, will execute a power-grab as in Egypt, sidelining women.

"In Libya, the only way you're going to get rights is through religion," said Alaa Murabit, the founder of the Voice of Libyan Women, a women's empowerment and development NGO in Libya.

Murabit's is one of the groups helping women realise their political aspirations by organising events that include workshops with female politicians from other countries as speakers.

One of the Libyan women on the list of speakers of the group's event earlier this week was Majda Fallah, a member of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood's shura council and head of the department of combating diabetes and obesity at the national centre for disease control.

"We want women to participate, and for her participation in a political party to be a real one and a true one, and not to just as a picture, so to speak, or someone who has no effective role," said Fallah.

"The right understanding of Islam was absent for a while and we want to revive the right understanding of Islam - that women have the right to participate in aspects of life."

Murabit said Fallah's message was very important as it countered the idea that Muslim women getting involved in politics risked "all hellfire".

Challenges

Fouad Hamdan, who is coaching some of the women who have applied for candidacy on how to effectively campaign, said he believes the women have what it takes to win.

"All of these women up there, they can do… and just for your information all of them [the potential ones attending his workshop] have been asked by men to become candidates… because Libyan men are not so retarded as many think they are. On the contrary, they are much more relaxed and open about women taking such a position in society."

He said that there are exceptions, and that women will no doubt face some challenges in Libya, which is "a conservative society after all".

"Let me start with the challenges all of them will have, men and women, because that's the main problem. None of them in this country has political experience, experience in speaking to the media, experience in debating, discussing and listening without freaking out and becoming emotional," said Hamdan.

"It is basically starting from zero… it's learning by suffering, but you know, I envy them. It's so beautiful. It's so pure."

Empowering women: Kingdom leads the way

“I believe strongly in the rights of women. My mother is a woman. My sister is a woman. My daughter is a woman. My wife is a woman,” said Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in an interview with Barbara Walters on American television station ABC in October 2005.

Saudi women have taken remarkable steps toward successful achievements thanks to King Abdullah’s full support in various areas.

On the occasion of the seventh anniversary of King Abdullah’s accession to throne, Saudi activist for children and women’s rights and member of the National Society of Human’s Rights’ executive board, Suhaila Zain Al-Abideen, said: Following the king’s decision in September 2011 to allow women to become members of the Shoura Council as well as vote and contest the municipal councils, Saudi women have been given a powerful political right.

“Political participation is one of the most significant rights that Saudi women have gained from our beloved king. Saudi women are more successful than ever because our king believed in us and gave us our rights,” she said. “Saudi women have proven they are qualified to hold leading positions and becoming fully involved in both Shoura and municipal councils helps them gain their social, political and civil rights,” she added.

“Saudi women are now lawyers, engineers, scientists and successful businesswoman and we are asking for more. Now that women do not need permission from their male guardians to apply for a job or start a business, we also ask that we be given other benefits that do not need the authorization of our male guardians like going on a scholarship for female students and going to the Saudi courts, where women need to accompanied by male guardians,” said Al-Abideen.

Naila Attar, businesswoman and founder of the Baladi (My Town) initiative calling for women to be able to vote and participate in the municipal council elections, said all Saudi men should follow their king and make him their role model when it comes to wise leadership and empowering women.

“We are living now in the golden age for Saudi women because we are witnessing a huge number of successes among us that has never seen before in the Kingdom,” she said.

“We are looking to be part of the political process in the municipal council and our initiative is to help those women gain experience and education to be decision makers. We have sent a report to the minister of municipal affairs demanding to start a female voluntary committee in municipal councils around the Kingdom to make sure women get the proper awareness, rehabilitation and training,” she added.

Columnist at Al-Watan newspaper and professor of linguistics at King Abdulaziz University’s girls’ college Amira Kashgari said she believes King Abdullah empowered Saudi women in so many different areas.

“This is notably the case in the political arena and there are so many other areas where women have been empowered in the Kingdom in the last seven years intellectually, socially, economically and politically,” she said.
“This political empowerment has transformed women’s ideas of themselves and the social balance in Saudi Arabia. To be part of the Shoura Council and to be able to vote and contest for the municipality councils is a major milestone in Saudi women’s lives because it will not only empower women but society as well,” she added.

“When you empower women, you empower the whole society because it reflects on the economic development of the Kingdom. Women’s participation is a must in all areas,” said Kashgari.