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Women & Public Life: Empowerment & Participation
in Social Studies
& Research
The Middle East Research Competition (MERC) program in
Organization of Arab Women in
table on « Women and the Public Life : Empowerment and
Participation
in Social Studies and Research ». The seminar scheduled
for July 2007
in
focusing on research in the area of empowerment of Arab
women and
developing ideas on the public sphere.
Given the situation of women in the Arab world and
varying
developments across countries, this seminar invites
participants to
discuss the relationship between women and the public
sphere through
an exploration of regional state of the art.
It is an invitation to undertake a critical reading of
what is being
written on women and the public sphere and an attempt to
explore some
of the current features to identify gaps and are
understudied areas.
While some Arab countries have been able to make some
achievements in
the area of women’s rights, others are still reserved,
particularly
on the level of participation and involvement in public
life. This
tendency had reflected on the social and civil levels of
citizenship
(civil rights), as well as on economic levels (the high
levels of
unemployment). In particular, women’s participation in
associational
life seems remarkably weak in an atmosphere characterized
by the
modesty of involvement on the part of both men and women.
Political parties, regardless of their orientations
rarely give women
priority due to their patriarchal nature. Thus, it often
seems that
party politics collude a proper examination of women’s
specific
issues. Moreover, the attempt to integrate women in
parliamentary or
political life through the system of parliamentary or
ministerial
quorum has varied
in terms of feasibility and efficiency, appearing
useful in some cases, and impractial and not too
beneficial in
others. Patriarchal, tribal and sectarian politics have
also left
their fingerprints on partisan politics as well as on the
status of
women in public life.
Women’s participation in mass media, as a public sphere
is of vital
importance. The relevant developments in Arab mass media
and the
increasing numbers of satellites, have been accompanied
by some
improvements in women’s involvement in these areas but
not to the
exepcted level. Women appear mainly press correspondents
or are
involved in entertainment mass media, but rarely do they
engage in
opinion journalism. Women’s experience in the media both
in
satellites and specialized journals should be carefully
analyzed.
Public sphere includes the virtual sphere starting by
cyber and
digital cafes which are today in control of most of the
forms of
communication and information exchange. Differences
between the
conventional public sphere and the digital sphere with
regard to
women’s participation is apparent in a number of
variables which are
themselves subject to several sociologtical readings reflecting
different approaches. Depending on one’s location and
angle of study,
the approaches differ (e.g. Habermas, Bourdieu, Pierre
Sansot and
Michel Maffesoli …. etc..). The expression cyberspace is
now used in
children’s books and in science fiction and materials
addressing it
have greatly increased in the last decade. However the presence of
women in cyberspace and their strategies in using it is
still
understudied and underanalyzed.
Despite women’s achievements in the area of equality and
citizenship
in the Arab world, citizenship and equality before law
remain
problematic due to the following reasons:
a) The patriarchal character of the laws
b) Practical applications of laws in daily life
c) New phenomena that have not been reflected in
legislation
d) Women lack of participation in the formulating and
interpretation
of citizenship related laws.
In this context, the Arab street constitutes a
territorial arena that
is different in its realities from the digital sphere
which sometimes
makes up for women’s weak participation in the former
arena. This
scene is characterized by rising but relative involvement
and
increasing marginalization. Co-mingling is still
problematic in some
societies and women find it difficult to enter alone some
public
areas such as clubs, cafes and other places of
entertainment. In
this context, some Arab societies have exeprienced a
remarkable
setback, despite their achievements on other fronts.
Participants in the round-table will discuss the scope
and nature of
current research on women and the public sphere by
focusing on
following areas :
Civil society and women’s participation
-Women and associational activities
-Political society and women’s participation
-Women, social citizenship and social movement
Women, citizenship and laws : Between image and reality
-Development of the concept of citizenship and its
relationship to
women’s social roles
-Women’s empowerment in Arab legislation
-Women and economic participation
Women’s presence in the public sphere :
-Women’s cultural and artistic contribution
-Women and the religious discourse between revivalism and
exclusion
-Women and the mass media industry
-Women and the information technology
-Violence against women in the private and public
spheres.
-Marginalization and involvement in public life and
issues of co-
mingling
The seminar is concerned with developments in studies and
research on
the topic and seeks to answer the following questions:
To what extent do writings and studies on women and the
public sphere
meet scientific standards ?
To what extent do scientific and research products in the
Arab world
reflect the reality of Arab women and developments and
change in
their relationship with the public sphere ?
Participants may also suggest new topics other than those
mentioned
in the call for papers.
Deadline for sending abstracts by email is end April 2007
Please write to
Organization of Arab Women
MERC
Info@arabwomenorg.net
contact@mercprogram.org
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