Introduction: Examining Gender Issues and Political Change in the Contemporary Middle East through an Intersectionality Lens

Abstract

This special Issue of Rowaq Arabi captures the multi-layered changes in the gender politics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region following the Arab Uprisings of 2011. It employs a critical gender lens to engage with several timely questions concerning the presence of women in the public sphere while examining emerging discourses on gender issues in the region. It presents a general framework that engages with the theoretical understanding of Arab women’s activism and the representation of women’s agency in relation to the Arab Uprisings. In addition, it looks into the Moroccan, Egyptian, and Syrian cases, highlighting the unique and changing underlying dynamics of their political, legal, and social contexts while examining the reflections of these dynamics on women’s mobilisation for equality and rights. A main conclusion reached in the issue is as follows: Despite the complexity and multidimensionality of dynamics determining progress in women’s lived realities following the Arab Uprisings, there is a marked rise in gender consciousness in the region. Furthermore, the research papers in this issue underscore that women’s political and social engagement since the uprisings has already produced new discourses and tools while creating greater opportunities for future change.