The Face of Arab Women in Cyber-Literature

Keeping the Gates Open

This study examines the perception and representation of women in Arab culture through a systematic literature review. Using postcolonial feminist theory, intersectionality, and media representation theory, this research analyzes how Arab women are portrayed in global and local media, as well as the historical evolution of their roles in society. Through qualitative analysis of academic literature, media content, and cultural documents from 1990-2023, the study reveals complex dynamics in how Arab women are perceived and represented. The findings highlight significant gaps between media representation and reality, the impact of modernization on gender roles, and the emergence of new paradigms in understanding Arab women's identities. The research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Arab women's experiences while highlighting the importance of contextual and intersectional approaches in gender studies. The implications of this study suggest the need for more balanced representation and policy development that supports Arab women's empowerment while respecting cultural values.

This conclusion summarizes key insights from the former chapters, and highlights political dimensions of media use in digital everyday life. I particularly underline how our more digital everyday lives intensify communicative dilemmas, in which individuals in everyday settings negotiate with societal norms and power structures through their uses of media technologies. I also discuss how everyday media use connects us to different societal spheres and issues, also pointing to global challenges such as the pandemic and the climate crisis, arguing that everyday media use is key to our understandings of society. I discuss how to analyze this in media use research, emphasizing attention to processes of change and disruption.

Breast cancer is frequently diagnosed in Arab women living in Qatar. Al Amal Hospital in Doha reported that 20% of cancer cases receiving treatment in 2007 involved the treatment of breast cancer among women. Early detection and treatment can reduce breast cancer morbidity and mortality rates significantly. However, Arab women are often diagnosed at advanced stages of breast cancer. Funded by the Qatar National Research Fund - National Priorities Research Program, we are undertaking a three-phase research program for which the goals are; (1) to understand the breast health experience of Arab women in Qatar, (2) identify and implement strategies that assist women to participate in breast cancer screening activities, and (3) evaluate, facilitate, and sustain the participation of Arab women in breast cancer screening. In phase I of the research program we will conduct two studies. Study 1: This quantitative cross-sectional survey will investigate the participation rate of Arab women in breast cancer screening, their knowledge about breast cancer, barriers and facilitators to participation. Using a structured questionnaire, we will conduct face-to-face interviews with Arab women aged 35 and over in three different cities in Qatar (Doha, Al Wakrah, and Al Khor). Convenient sampling will be used to recruit 753 participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics will be performed using SPSS. Study 2: This qualitative study will gain insight on; 1) how Arabic women view and participate in breast cancer screening activities, 2) how social, cultural, historical, and economic influences affect breast cancer screening for Arab women, the access to screening services, and social support networks in place, and 3) what intervention strategies will increase awareness of early detection and participation in breast cancer screening among Arab women. Purposive sampling will be used. Qualitative in-depth interviews will be individually conducted with Arab women, men, and healthcare providers. Qualitative data analysis will be performed. Although the results are not available at the present time, we will discuss how the information obtained from both the quantitative and qualitative studies will be used to develop culturally appropriate and effective intervention strategies and services to meet the preventative care needs of Arab women living in the State of Qatar with the aim of decreasing the seriousness and prevalence of breast cancer among them.

The Middle East has undergone profound social, political, and economic changes over time, leading to reconfiguration of the positions and status of Arab men and women in relation to the state and the economy. The COVID-19 pandemic, the Arab Spring, and the 2008 financial crisis have all had significant impacts, particularly on Arab women, who have become the focus of policies aimed at “empowering” them. Before exploring the relationship between women’s empowerment and public policy, it is crucial to understand the concept of empowerment within its context, through the perspectives and narratives of women themselves. This chapter examines the concept of women’s empowerment in the context of Arab Gulf states, with a specific focus on Qatar, by exploring the meaning and perceptions of working and non-working women and the role of religious beliefs, moral values, and family. A holistic and dialectical approach is used to understand the complex and multidimensional nature of women’s empowerment and to highlight the intersectionality between gender, religion, and identity in the region. A deductive and inductive logic is adopted, drawing on both theoretical literature and practical interviews to offer a conceptual and empirical contribution to the field of women’s empowerment.

Among the many challenges facing Arabic literature in translation, the question of gender has historically been one of the most fraught, particularly as it presses upon Arab women writers. The persistence of Orientalist tropes such as the veil and the harem; the continual othering of the exotic and supposedly untranslatable East; the frequent lumping together of Arab, Muslim, and Middle Eastern identities; the slippage between memoir, or autobiography, and fiction; and the tendency to isolate gender issues from their political, historical, and social contexts—these are some of the many phenomena that scholars and translators have examined in the Western academy. Some issues, such as the burden of mimesis, the tendency to depoliticize the work of controversial authors, and the continual association of Arabic with the Qurʾān (and thereby with the untranslatable and the sacred), face all works of Arabic in their translation for the English-language marketplace. Other issues, such as the stereotyping of Arab women as either helpless victims, exceptional escapees, or deluded pawns of Arab patriarchy, in Mohja Kahf’s reading, affect Arab women’s writing (and literature featuring Arab women characters) with particular force. Many scholars have highlighted the division between the simplistic, flattening representations of Arab women writers offered in mainstream Western publishing and the more nuanced, literarily sensitive presentations in translated works published by small, specialist, and university presses. Pressing issues of genre are also at play: the desire among American publics for a sociological, ethnographic “glimpse behind the veil” of Middle Eastern society has created a preference for both documentary memoirs and mimetic–realist works of fiction that has drawn attention away from works of experimental prose and—most notably—from poetry. Whereas male poets such as the Palestinian Maḥmūd Darwīsh (Mahmoud Darwish) and the Syro-Lebanese Adūnīs (Adunis) have multiple discrete volumes in English translation, Arab women tend to be confined to the realm of anthologies, where one or two poems are meant to represent an entire life of variegated poetic creation, and where the emphasis on their personal identity (“Arab woman”) is highlighted above their role in a more complex literary, social, and historical world. Although several contemporary poets have managed to break from the anthology loop, early-21st-century works in translation suggest that the stereotype of the Muslim woman in need of “saving” has not yet gone away. Still, scholars and translators have also offered numerous strategies and tactics for “rewiring the circuits” that govern the representation of Arab women in the West.

Although many measures have been taken by the majority of Arab countries enhance women's representation in decision-making positions, women's participation in public life and positions of power have not been achieved the desired level. The Arab region ranks the lowest in the world in terms of women's participation in parliaments. The objective of this paper is examine the Political participation of women in the Arab countries and identify different challenges that impede Arab women participation in politics and decision making. Challenges include: cultural factors, the stereotyped image of women, women's low self-confidence, lack of coordination among women's organizations, effectiveness/efficiency of women empowerment programs, shortcomings in the institutional and legal frameworks, practices of political parties and election process, skepticism about the Agenda for Women empowerment, the process of development of Women empowerment strategies. Thus, challenges facing women in politics are immense. They require the consolidation of all efforts with great belief in women's capabilities as human beings who are able lead and shoulder the responsibility in the building of their nations. Keywords: Arab women in politics, Arab women and equality, Arab women in development Setting the Scene at the Global Level: During the last decades, the world has witnessed special International attention women's issues, and devoted 1975 as the International Year for Women. The year of 1975 laid the groundwork for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) during the first International conference on women held in Mexico in 1979 (2). The Mexico conference was followed by other main significant international conferences on women held in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) (3). The pace of the attention women's issues has accelerated in the beginning of the nineties, with the growing international concern about the persistence of discrimination against women and the marginalization of their role, the consequent waste of energy, and the disruption of the fundamental forces in the overall development process. The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994 had the major impact on the emerging concern of gender issues. This was followed by the Beijing conference in 1995, which paved the way strengthen women's participation in decision-making process and higher positions and endorsed the cumulative effect of the previous efforts of all conferences emphasizing on the states' accountability and commitment adopt concrete plans of action that respond Beijing's Platform for Action (BPFA) (4). In further pursuit of women's rights, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) in 2000 clearly specified the importance of women development in its Goal 3; to promote gender equality and empowerment of women. Other MDG's have not explicitly stated gender as a target; however, women's issues are addressed implicitly in many areas of the MDG's such as poverty, education, and health (5). The Arab region was not in isolation from the global debate on women and human rights, where the political will has played a major role in enhancing Arab women development. Arab countries have witnessed major shifts over the past decade in political, economic, and social development. The Arab region, comprises 22 states that are members of the Arab League, is defined by a complex set of issues, including the Arab-Israeli conflict and its repercussions, unstable economic conditions and trends, population-resource imbalances and environmental stress. The Arab Islamic cultural heritage and common Arabic language have preserved a unique character for the region and its peoples. Democratization in the Arab region remains a slow process which faces various setbacks including regional instability and conflict, economic imbalances, and the lack of freedom engage in a meaningful democratic process. …

Transgressing Boundaries despite the Barriers: Arab Women in Four Recent Films

This research study examines Arab women experiences of being empowered by existing in the virtual world. The aim of the study is to establish paper that discuses if female users of Twitter in Arab countries believe that the religious and cultural restrictions of Arabs state institutions are circumvented by the Internet. The study is questioning the Arab female experiences and feelings if and when she bypasses the restrictions, that she is associate with as being Arab, to make herself existing online and how does this reflect on her in the real world. The investigation is carried out by conducting semi-structured interviews, targeting to collect qualitative data only. To achieve the aims of the study, the sample consists of seven females from different countries who all use Twitter. The study showed that there is a gap between the action of Arab women online and offline which is due to prompting of social and political empowerment. Keywords: Arab women, empowerment, media, virtual world

The study aims to compare and contrast how diasporic Arab writers, Fadia Faqir and Diana Abu-Jaber, both present Arab women in their respective novels, My Name is Salma and Crescent. This study was conducted using the theories of post colonialism. Hence, the researcher relies on Edward Said’s views on Orientalism in analyzing both novels. The study concludes with how both Faqir and Abu Jaber represent Arab women characters in different ways in their works, My Name is Salma and Crescent, respectively. Abu Jaber tries to negate the stereotypical images known in the West about Arab women through representing independent, confident, educated Arab women characters in Crescent, this depiction contrasts with Fadia Faqir’s representation of Arab women in her novel My Name is Salma in which she reflects the stereotypical images of the oppressed, submissive, and dependent Arab woman.

This study aimed to explore the various challenges and opportunities that Arab women face in public sector organizations in Israel's leadership roles as there is a gap of gender equity otherwise. The study aimed to see how the factors of family, socio-cultural, and organizational dynamics shape leadership development for Arab women as opposed to Arab men. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research included a quantitative survey of 320 Arab leaders in the public sector to examine the specific barriers and challenges that they face and 30 in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of these participants. The study discovered that Arab women leaders experience more extreme barriers due to gender stereotypes, culture of discrimination in the workplace, and familial support. The data shows that Arab women leaders on average are perceived to be less competent leaders, they put more effort into proving their credibility, and they face rigid barriers to being recognized and promoted in their leadership position. While shifts in male attitudes towards female leaders are changing, younger males seem to be more progressive than older males, there are still challenges remaining. The study suggests that to promote gender equity and support change, processes of systemic reform, awareness campaigns, mentorship opportunities, and flexible work practices are needed. Theoretically, this study makes a contribution to the understanding of gender dynamics within patriarchal and collectivist societies. The work provides practical suggestions for policies and organizational designs to foster the leadership development and representation of Arab women in public institutions in Israel.

The subject of this paper is a reflection on the changes in society structure caused by technical and technological progress. As a result of these transformations, the border between real and virtual world is being bleared. The society is becoming the cyber society. The basic searching hypothesis is the statement, according to which, we need to find appropriate rules of positive law, ethical, moral and religious norms, that would be able to create a new social order in cyberspace. The aim in this paper is, to find the answer to the question if human rights can become a basis of a new social order for cyber society. In final conclusion it is shown that human rights can be the warrant of new social order, however, they require a profound content redefining, and the hierarchy of human rights revaluation, taking into consideration not only scientific achievements, but also world view pluralism, common in cyber society.

The development of information technology has created a new artificial and virtual space, namely cyberspace. Cybercommunity is a virtual life in a virtual world that is built through a computer network but remains connected, and has its own social life. The phenomena and realities that occur in cyber society are certainly different from ordinary people. So this study will discuss the sociological analysis of phenomena and reality in cyber society. The approach used in this research is a qualitative approach with a descriptive method. This research is not intended to obtain external validity, but rather aims to gain an understanding of reality in its specific context. The results showed that the formation of cyber communities was initially small and was developed using a spider web pattern to form a large community. This cyber society ultimately forms a cyber culture and has its own stratification. However, the presence of cyber society has not only positive but also negative impacts, one of which is cyber crime. For this reason, cyberlaw is needed so that the life of the cyber community can run better.

This thesis argues for a reinvigorated postcolonial understanding of contemporary Arab women’s autobiographical writing as part of a revolutionary and dissident culture. It argues that contemporary Arab women’s life writing is a site of cultural resistance through which autobiographical subjects engage with, question, negotiate, and attempt to destabilise dominant social, political, and representational discourses. It uniquely interrogates the interplay of power, gender, and resistance, in life narratives of national struggle by politically committed Arab women across different linguistic (Arabophone, Francophone, Anglophone) and national contexts (Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Palestine, Tunisia). It considers why resistance is important when writing about the self for Arab women and ways in which dissent is articulated through the genre. The thesis combines postcolonial theory and feminist autobiographical criticism in order to trace a range of formal, thematic, and representational modalities used to articulate dissent to intersectional structures of power to which contemporary Arab women are subjected in contexts of political conflict, including state/colonial hegemony, social pressure, patriarchy, and cultural/representational silencing. Each chapter examines a specific thematic and/or formal strategy of life writing: bricolage (Chapter One); transborder testimony (Chapter Two), resilient humour (Chapter Three), and digital dissidence (Chapter Four), as manifested in autobiographical forms of memoir, auto-portrait, testimony, diary, and online life writing. The overarching purpose is to investigate ways in which authors experiment with the conventions of the genre in order to rewrite mainstream narratives of national struggle and to enact Arab women’s active involvement in the public sphere and during revolutionary moments.

This paper discusses the effects of feminism, nationalism and colonialism on modern Arab women. These three elements are seen as interconnected in the Arab world, as in many other developing countries. However, even though early Arab feminist consciousness developed hand in hand with national consciousness, feminism is an indigenous product of Arabic political and socioeconomic dynamics. The colonialist and counter‐colonialist representations of Arab women need to be challenged. And observers must see that Arab women's need for positive change is no more nor less than that of women anywhere else.