Search

Begin New Search Topic Gender Issues Political Geography Middle East

51. Youth integration and job creation in the Middle East

Author:
Jad Chaaban
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
The Middle East and North African region is currently faced with one of the toughest socioeconomic challenges in its modern history: a "youth bulge" of almost 100 million young people, of which a quarter are unemployed. Between 40 and 50 million new jobs need to be created in the region's countries over the next decade, and this implies that governments in the region should embark on a labour-intensive and job-creating growth trajectory. Special attention should be given to reducing the unemployment and emigration of skilled youth, and to integrating young women into the labour market. Policies that tackle the institutional and structural impediments to meaningful job creation should be pursued, together with public interventions in social protection and housing programmes that would reduce youth's social exclusion in the region.
Topic:
Demographics, Gender Issues, Islam, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Middle East and Arabia

52. Still Waiting For Change: Making the political transition work for women in Yemen

Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Women played a key role in Yemen's 2011 popular uprising, but almost a year on they are still waiting for change. Four out of five women consulted by Oxfam in a series of focus group discussions say that their lives have worsened over the last 12 months. Although a transition towards democracy is under way, women's hopes for a better life are wearing thin. A quarter of women between the ages of 15 and 49 are acutely malnourished. Deepening humanitarian crisis and conflict are limiting women's role in shaping Yemen's future. Women have told Oxfam that they need better access to food, jobs, and physical safety. The Government of Yemen and the international community should adequately support the humanitarian response and help ensure women can play their part in building a peaceful and just society.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Government, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Middle East, Yemen, and Arabia

53. Case Study: Women's Rights in Egypt

Author:
Marleen Nolten
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The 25th of January 2011 uprising in Egypt called for freedom, dignity and social justice. The uprising was full of opportunities and challenges for Egyptian men and women who have been deprived of their political, social and economic rights. Hence, the revolution has given women a sense of freedom and empowerment, and seemed like a perfect opportunity to claim their rights. However, while many groups, including women, overcame their fear to speak out against violations of their basic rights, the changed power relations threatened to ignore women's rights or even reverse gains that were won in the past. Oxfam partners in Egypt have increased their efforts during the last year to collectively formulate priority demands on women's rights and bring these demands to the forefront.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Rights, Islam, and Regime Change
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, and Egypt

54. Peacebuilding Efforts of Women from Afghanistan and Iraq: Lessons in Transition

Author:
Kathleen Kuehnast, Hodei Sultan, Manal Omar, and Steven E. Steiner
Publication Date:
11-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
In transitioning countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, women are increasingly finding their rights limited by state and religious leaders. Cultural and national stereotypes can be quickly overcome by the shared backgrounds, accomplishments, obstacles, and aspirations of women in transitioning countries. Women living in countries in transition value opportunities to network with women from other countries in similar situations. Women leaders from Afghanistan and Iraq have genuine concerns about the challenges facing women in the Arab Spring. Their valuable opinions are based on their own experiences of overcoming those challenges. It is essential that women work together and with men to further women's rights. Women must plan for a transition before it happens and have a strategy of work going into the transition process. Laws empowering and protecting women do not work if they are not enforced. International donors need a long-term view of women's programming, as much of the required work will take time. Donors should consider nonurban areas when working with women, and when possible nonelite partners, as these leaders understand the limitations of local conditions. It is possible for women's groups to find common ground with religious leaders.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Development, Gender Issues, Islam, and Regime Change
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, Middle East, and Arabia

55. Human rights in the smaller Gulf states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and UAE

Author:
Joe Stork
Publication Date:
12-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
Human rights conditions in the five smaller Gulf states are quite poor overall. Political and economic power is the monopoly of hereditary ruling families. There is little respect for core civil and political rights such as freedom of expression, assembly and association. Peaceful dissent typically faces harsh repression. The administration of justice is highly personalised, with limited due process protections, especially in political and security-related cases. The right to participate in public affairs by way of election to offices with some authority is extremely limited; the only exception is Kuwait.
Topic:
Democratization, Gender Issues, Human Rights, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Middle East, Kuwait, Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman

56. Islamic Women's Activism in the Arab World: Potentials and challenges for external actors

Author:
Julie Elisabeth Pruzan-Jørgensen
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Islamic women's activism may appear a contradiction in terms to many Western audiences accustomed to presentations of Islam as counterproductive to the promotion of women's empowerment and the situation of women more generally. Yet in the Arab world (and beyond) many different groups and individuals – as scholars, as charity and welfare providers, and as religious or political activists – work to empower women based on Islamic arguments and references.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Islam, Politics, and Regime Change
Political Geography:
Middle East and Arabia

57. World Grows More Peaceful - Except for the Middle East

Author:
Dana McKelvey
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Diplomatic Courier
Abstract:
The Institute for Economics and Peace's annual Global Peace Index (GPI) reported an increase in world peace after two consecutive years of decline. The change was driven by slight reductions worldwide in terrorist acts, military expenditure as a percentage of GDP, military sophistication, and aggregate number of heavy weapons per capita. As the sixth edition of the study, the 2012 GPI ranked the peacefulness of 158 nations, marking an increase from the 2011 ranking of 153 nations. As Professor Anne-Marie Slaughter of Princeton University remarked at the GPI’s release, the study has great potential for “draw[ing] correlations” and encouraging collaboration between think tanks, universities, policymakers, and civil society in their study of global peace. The IEP will distribute the study to the World Bank, the OECD, the U.S. Congress, American University, and Club de Madrid, among other leading organizations. Professor Slaughter explained that researchers defined peacefulness not only as the absence of war or violence, but also as the absence of fear. The study addresses three major themes: the level of safety and security in society; the extent of domestic or international conflict; and the degree of militarization. The IEP researched these themes in the context of both “positive peace,” a “culture of peace” that values human rights, gender equality, democratic participation, and open communication, as well as “negative peace,” or the absence of violent conflict. In its study of “negative peace,” the GPI used twenty-three indicators, spanning topics from deaths in organized conflict, to political instability, to perceived criminality. The IEP’s Positive Peace Index (PPI), which addresses 108 countries, used twenty-one indicators categorized into eight “pillars of peace” that researchers identified as key to a peaceful society. The IEP emphasized the contrast between the PPI and other studies’ extensive focus on conflict and civil unrest. According to the IEP’s executive summary, the PPI becomes especially important during state-building, as in the recent cases of Iraq and Afghanistan. “The pillars of peace,” the summary states, “provide a foundation for thinking about how to establish the optimal environment for human wellbeing and potential to flourish.”
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, Human Rights, Conflict, and Peace
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Middle East

58. The Effects of Socialization on Gender Discrimination and Violence: A Case Study from Lebanon

Author:
Dr. Christine Sylva Hamieh and Dr. Jinan Usta
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Violence Against Women (VAW) is a major public-health and social problem which jeopardises women's development and abuses many of their basic human rights. Recent interventions to combat the problem have focused on including men – not as holders or perpetuators of privileges, but rather as potential and actual contributors to gender equality. These initiatives to include men in programmes to end VAW have achieved some success so far. Several studies in the Arab world have highlighted the importance of addressing VAW. However, of all gender-related issues it still receives the least recognition and acknowledgement from Arab states and policy makers. Instead, the struggle continues to be led by women's organisations fighting to remove all forms of discrimination against women.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Rights, and Sociology
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, and Lebanon

59. Lebanon: An Overview Context, Evolving Demographics for Women, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Poverty and Women, Gender and Rights

Author:
Jocelyn DeJong and Sonya Meyerson-Knox
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
Abstract:
Lebanon, a small middle-income country located on the eastern Mediterranean, is typical of many developing nations as it is undergoing demographic and epidemiological transitions with limited resources at hand, and yet unique due to its diverse population and long history of conflict. The conditions of Lebanese women are also fairly unique: A gender analysis Lebanon’s development indicators reveals that Lebanese women experience relatively high levels of health and education, but are lacking a commensurate presence in the public sphere. According to a Lebanese NGO, a “key problem is that gains in health and education have not translated into women’s economic empowerment, advancement in politics, or full equality under the law” (CRTD-A, 2006, p. 8).
Topic:
Development, Gender Issues, Human Rights, Women, Sexual Health, and Reproductive Health
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

60. Women and Men: Hand in Hand Against Violence Strategies and approaches of working with men and boys for ending violence against women

Author:
Ola Ataya
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Violence against women (VAW) hinders the realization of a wide range of development goals, from the elimination of poverty to the fulfillment of human rights. In Arab countries, many forms of VAW exist and are perpetuated by the deep-rooted sociocultural factors.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Rights, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa