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21. Why Turkey’s Gender Inequality Matters

Author:
Dimitris Tsarouhas
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Abstract:
Women’s underrepresentation in Turkey’s public life is a persistent and long-lasting phenomenon, despite the socio-economic progress achieved over the last two decades. Some indicators suggest that the problem has been getting worse in recent years, and Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention in 2021 has compounded fears of a further deterioration. Discrimination against women is not only normatively wrong, it is also practically self-defeating, since it deprives the country of resources, talent and expertise it needs to raise prosperity levels. However, women’s organizations in Turkey are numerous, visible and persistent in their demands for genuine equality and an end to discrimination. To address key aspects of the problem, such as record low female employment rates, Turkey needs to return to high-level, sustainable growth and promote female entrepreneurship.
Topic:
Women, Inequality, Discrimination, Representation, and Gender
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

22. Women’s Peace Groups in Formal Peace Processes: Benefits of Participation, Price of Exclusion

Author:
Shiri Levinas
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Mitvim: The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies
Abstract:
Women’s peace organizations work to end violence and promote peace agreements almost everywhere where conflicts occur. Studies and observations from the past 20 years show that these organizations contribute significantly to peace processes, despite their variation in forms, methods, and the extent of their involvement. In the context of formal negotiations and the formulation of peace agreements, the integration of women’s peace organizations was found to increase the prospects of reaching an agreement, as well as to change and enhance the nature and content of the agreement itself (including governance, social justice, rehabilitation, gender equality, etc.). Their integration was also found to significantly increase the feasibility of implementing the agreement and promote women’s representation in the political system. However, in Israel, as in most countries, decision makers marginalize women’s peace organizations despite their extensive work and significant contributions. This article examines the main barriers preventing the participation of women’s peace organizations in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, the price of their exclusion, and the actions needed to integrate them and express their potential. The article is based on interviews conducted in 2019 and 2020 with women-peace activists from Israel and beyond, as well as a review of research literature and case studies of women’s peace organizations in Israel and abroad. It outlines some of the prices Israeli society pays for women’s exclusion and recommends actions that may promote their integration into formal peacemaking efforts. This is the third in a series of papers of a joint project by the Mitvim Institute for Regional Foreign Policies and the Davis Institute for International Relations at Hebrew University examining selected actors’ contribution to the advancement of Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Topic:
Women, Peace, Participation, and Exclusion
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

23. Civil Society & Political Transformations (Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy, Fall 2021)

Author:
Ghazi Ghazi
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Eleven years after the 2011 Arab Spring, feelings of transformation and change still reverberate throughout the region. The Spring 2022 edition, Civil Society and Political Transformations, seeks to illuminate how civil society organizations operate in the region and their effects on political transformations.
Topic:
Civil Society, Education, Human Rights, Migration, Politics, Race, History, Reform, Women, Constitution, Arab Spring, Syrian War, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Baath Party, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, South Asia, Turkey, Middle East, Israel, Libya, Yemen, Palestine, North Africa, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, and United Arab Emirates

24. Increasing Vulnerability of Female Labor Force and Deepening Gender Inequalities During The Covid-19 Outbreak

Author:
Deniz Beyazbulut
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
This study aims to examine women’s unemployment and its course during the pandemic period by making use of Turkish Statistical Institute’s (TÜİK’s) Household Labor Force Survey data (HIA), reports prepared by the Research Center of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK-AR) on Unemployment and Employment Outlook, and International Labour Organization’s (ILO) World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021. In the study, gender inequalities, which have intensified with the increase in women’s domestic work and care burdens with the pandemic, will also be discussed.
Topic:
Women, Employment, Inequality, COVID-19, and Gender
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

25. Toward a Paradigm Shift in Humanitarian Response: Centering Women and Girls in Integrated Health and Protection Services in Syria

Author:
Amany Qaddour
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
While regional instability and upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa may have foreshadowed the complexity and longevity of the crisis that would unfold in Syria in 2011, few anticipated it would exceed ten years, amounting to 6.8 million refugees across the world and 14.6 million people in need of hu- manitarian assistance within the country.1 The crisis has been defined by mass displacements, with large swaths of the population uprooted from their homes and forced to reside in camps and precarious housing; sieges in Aleppo City and Eastern Ghouta; chemical weapons attacks in Khan Shaykhoun and Douma; infectious disease outbreaks, including polio and cholera; food insecurity, notably among children and infants; a rise in persons with disabilities; persecution of aid workers; and both systematic and indiscriminate aerial bombardment of civilian infrastructure—namely hospitals, schools, and marketplaces.
Topic:
Health, Women, Syrian War, Girls, Humanitarian Response, and Protection
Political Geography:
Middle East and Syria

26. THE APPLIED STATE OF VIOLATION OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN ARMED CONFLICTS: YAZIDI WOMEN DURING THE ISIS WAR IN IRAQ

Author:
Roza Omer Hamadamin, Nor Anita Abdullah, and Mohd Zakhiri Md. Nor
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
On 3 August 2014, fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) attacked the Yazidi minority of Sinjar in Kurdistan-Iraq. The Yazidi community was the main target of ISIS fighters, including Yazidi women. The ISIS group has committed violence against Yazidi women in several ways. This study aims to show the crimes committed by the group ISIS against Yazidi women and to highlight the problem of violence against women in war through recent living examples, such as women in the ISIS war between 2014-2017. The second part of this study identifies the legal deficiencies related to the regulations that guarantee the protection of women's rights in Iraq. Through a content analysis approach, qualitative methodologies are used. Also, based on a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, this paper found that the Yazidi women and girls have been subjected to the most heinous crimes involving international crimes. Furthermore, despite various legal provisions in Iraqi laws and the constitution relating to protecting women's rights, these laws have several legal deficiencies. The Iraqi legal authority has not attempted to guarantee sufficient protection for women's rights in armed conflicts.
Topic:
Human Rights, Women, Islamic State, Armed Conflict, Human Rights Violations, and Yazidis
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

27. Iran and the United Nations: Breaking New Ground at the Human Rights Council, Is the Commission for the Status of Women Next?

Author:
Neda Bolourchi
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI)
Abstract:
Roughly 3,100,000 Euro-Americans are of Iranian descent, and many feel a strong connection to their Iranian identity and heritage. Those of Iranian descent have succeeded in all sectors of professional life, from medicine to law to technology to banking to politics and more. Euro-American support for the Iranian protest movement has moved from online activism to making history at the United Nations, first on the Human Rights Council and possibly next on the Commission for the Status of Women.
Topic:
Human Rights, United Nations, Social Movement, Women, and Protests
Political Geography:
Iran and Middle East

28. Race, Women and the Global War on Terror

Author:
Sherene Razack
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
Race, Women and the Global War on Terror
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Gender Issues, Race, Women, and War on Terror
Political Geography:
Middle East, Asia, and Global

29. Making women count, not just counting women: Creating a more effective security sector in Iraq requires increased inclusiveness

Author:
Maria-Louise Clausen and Ekatherina Zhukova
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
A priority for NATO Mission Iraq is to further the Women, Peace and Security agenda as one of the mission’s activities. This effort should focus on raising awareness of the operational benefits of equal opportunities and diversity and not just counting the number of women involved. RECOMMENDATIONS: Formulate a clear mandate for WPS functions in the mission that positions the WPS agenda as an integral element of NMI’s other activities. Support awareness-raising programmes and initiatives to transform social norms, including patriarchal gender norms and institutional socio-political constraints on female participation. Support the transparent qualifications-based recruitment and employment of women and prioritize the focus on inclusive work environments, both mentally and physically. Incorporate intersectional and masculinity perspectives in the work on WPS to avoid creating an image of WPS as a foreign-backed agenda that is only of, by and for elite women.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Democratization, Diplomacy, International Organization, Non State Actors, Women, Fragile States, Violence, Peace, Police, and Justice
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

30. Women and COVID-19 in MENA

Author:
Amaney Jamal and Mary Clare Roche
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Arab Barometer
Abstract:
Key Findings: Women more concerned about COVID-19 than men COVID-19 increased family stress Perceptions of gender based violence tended to decrease during the pandemic Structural barriers to work more pressing than cultural barriers
Topic:
Gender Issues, Women, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, North Africa, and MENA