IN THIS ISSUE
CONFERENCES & OPPORTUNITIES
Call for Contributions/Articles: The Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW): "Gender Quotas and Parliamentary Representation"
The Political Life of Women in Maghreb
Gulf States Program to Tackle Women's Issues
         
NEWS & ARTICLES
WOMEN RIGHTS CAMPAIGING
Equality Without Reservations: Arab Women Campaigning to Eliminate Reservation on CEDAW
IRAN - Feminist Campaign for One Million Signatures
IRAN - Women’s Rights Activist and Researcher Detained
IRAN - Three Women's Rights Advocates Sent to Solitary Confinement
LEBANON-Claiming Equal Citizenship (The Campaign for Arab Women's Right to Nationality): Update: Sit-in Outside the Cabinet in Lebanon Successful

GENDER & ECONOMY
IRAN - A Car Designed Especially for Women
IRAN -Women-Only Taxis

GENDER & POLITICS
IRAQ- Women Fear Going Public as Political Candidates
YEMEN - Female Political Activists Call for Quota System

GENDER & RELIGION
ALGERIA- Woman sentenced to 10 years for allegedly damaging a Quran
IRAQ - Mixed Religious Sect Marriages Survive Conflict
MOROCCO - Underage Marriage Fatwa Prompts Official Inquiry
TURKEY- Headscarf Debate and Slideshow on the Headscarf in Turkey

GENDER RIGHTS AND VIOLENCE
EGYPT- New Lawsuit Challenges Mandatory Premarital Testing
IRAN - The Fate of the Family Protection Law/ Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani’s
 Interview with Mahnaz Afkhami, the Second Woman Minister in Iran
SUDAN- Women Arrested For Wearing Tight Trousers

BOOKS & REPORTS
GENDER & EDUCATION
PAKISTAN - Madrassa Religious School Enrollment – Harvard Research – Gender

GENDER, ECONOMY & EMPLOYMENT
SAUDI ARABIA - A Case of Young Girl Sri Lankan Migrant & Campaign to Save Her Life 
SYRIA - Women in NE Rural Syria Miss Out on Property Rights

GENDER RIGHTS & VIOLENCE
ALGERIA: Universal Periodic Review Working Group Report.
A Feminist Reading on Racism and Patriarchalism in the Shadow of the Zionist Discourse on Citizenship and Residence and Under the Citizenship and Entry Into Israel Law
Bridging the Gap – Women’s Empowerment in the Middle East
EGYPT - 60 Percent of Women Harassed on Daily Basis - Cairo
Protective Laws Unfit for Women on Streets of Cairo
LEBANON- Child Sexual Abuse- Girls

RESOURCES & TRAINING MATERIALS
LEBANON – Women Migrant Domestic Workers
Palestinian & Israeli Women Believe Women Can Bring Peace and Prosperity to the World

CONFERENCES & OPPORTUNITIES
Call for Contributions/Articles: The Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW): "Gender Quotas and Parliamentary Representation"
The Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW), based in the Lebanese American University, is soliciting articles for the forthcoming issue of its quarterly publication Al-Raida. The central topic for this edition of the journal will be “Gender Quotas and Parliamentary Representation”. Deadline for abstracts: November 20, 2008. More information

The Political Life of Women in Maghreb
UN-INSTRAW and the Centre for Arab Women Training and Research (CAWTAR) are announcing the launch of a photography competition on the theme: ‘’Reinforcement of female leadership and the participation of women in political life and decision-making in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.’’

Gulf States Program to Tackle Women's Issues
The Peninsula - 17 October, 2008
A Qatari envoy to the United Nations has outlined plans for a Gulf-wide committee designed to tackle domestic violence and other issues that affect the lives of women in the Arabian peninsula.

NEWS & ARTICLES
WOMEN RIGHTS CAMPAIGING
Equality Without Reservations: Arab Women Campaigning to Eliminate Reservation on CEDAW
The campaign aims to urge Arab countries to withdraw reservations to the international Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and ratify its Optional Protocol.

IRAN - Feminist Campaign for One Million Signatures
The starting point of the campaign of one million signatures demanding changes to the discriminatory laws was a gathering on June 12th 2006 in Haft e Tir square in Tehran (one of the main squares in Tehran) but it was officially launched on august 27 2006. This movement is the beginning of very important changes in the history of Iranian women’s movement. For more information

IRAN - Women’s Rights Activist and Researcher Detained
"Iranian intelligence agents detained Esha Momeni, an activist in the One Million Signature Campaign and a graduate student doing research for her thesis on the Iranian women's movement, on 15 October 2008." (International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran / OMCT)

IRAN - Three women's rights advocates sent to solitary confinement
According to information received from the city of Sanandaj, women activists of the One Million Signatures Campaign Ronak Safarzadeh, Hana Abdi, and Fatemeh Goftari, have lost three weeks of visiting rights and transferred to solitary confinement. (IHRV). For more information

LEBANON-Claiming Equal Citizenship (The Campaign for Arab Women's Right to Nationality): Update: Sit-in Outside the Cabinet in Lebanon Successful
The one hour sit-in organized by the Nationality Campaign coordinators and activists from CRTD.A on Thursday July 24, 2008 was remarkably successful. Sixty participants gathered outside the Lebanese Cabinet offices to call on the new government to reform the nationality code so women can confer their nationality to their foreign husbands and children. Read more

GENDER & ECONOMY
IRAN - A car Designed Especially for Women
9/10/2008: Iran's biggest motor manufacturer is to take the country's gender sensitivity to new levels by producing a car especially for women. (The Guardian / BBC) .It will be fitted with features common on the international market but seen as female-specific in Iran's male-dominated culture. These include an automatic gearbox, electronic parking aids, a navigation system and a jack designed. More information

IRAN -Women-Only Taxis
In this frenetic capital city of 12 million people, women drivers are hardly a rarity. But a raft of other restrictions do exist in Iran: Women are not allowed to dance or sing a solo in front of men; and they can't travel abroad without a husband's permission, or file for divorce. But many Iranian women prefer to ride in the women-only taxis, and the resulting demand has enabled Tehran's women taxi drivers to achieve financial emancipation from men. Read more

GENDER & POLITICS
Iraq Women Fear Going Public as Political Candidates
Inaam Hamid, 43-year-old former political prisoner and mother of five, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Baghdad.

YEMEN - Female Political Activists Call for Quota System
A large group of women reunited on Monday, August 11, around a table at the Women National Committee (WNC) offices in Sana’a, the technical committee of the government’s Supreme Council for Women Affairs. Their objectives were to discuss a common strategy to defend their demand to reserve 15 percent of Parliament seats for women (“women’s quota”) and to approve a communiqué on the issue of women’s political participation.

GENDER & RELIGION
ALGERIA- Woman Sentenced to 10 years For Allegedly Damaging a Quran
According to Algerian Newspaper El Watan, last September a young women aged 26 was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Biskra, southern Algeria, where she is already detained for previous offence. She is accused of having damaged a Quran. This sentence was given by the same judge who already condemned 6 people to four years in prison and a fine of 1000 Euros each for eating during Ramadan. Fortunately this sentence was reversed on appeal and they were recently released.

IRAQ - Mixed Religious Sect Marriages Survive Conflict
Couples from different Muslim sects continue to marry despite sectarian tensions.
By Hazim al-Shara in Baghdad (ICR No. 271, 24-Sep-08)
After five years of waiting, Sunni Turkman Mohammed Ali was very happy to finally marry his fiancé and college friend Ahmed Ahmed, a Shia. Read more

MOROCCO - Underage Marriage Fatwa Prompts Official Inquiry
The controversial fatwa concerning underage marriage issued in Morocco by Cheikh Mohamed Ben Abderrahman Al Maghraoui will be the target of a new government inquiry, following a decision by the king's prosecutor in Rabat. Read more

TURKEY- Headscarf Debate and Slideshow on The Headscarf in Turkey
ISTANBUL — High school hurt for Havva Yilmaz. She tried out several selves. She ran away. Nothing felt right. “There was no sincerity,” she said. “It was shallow.”So at 16, she did something none of her friends had done: She put on an Islamic head scarf.

GENDER RIGHTS AND VIOLENCE
EGYPT- New Lawsuit Challenges Mandatory Premarital Testing
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights - Right to Privacy Program - Press Release - 12 October 2008 (EIPR) "Mandatory premarital medical testing is an inherently flawed and potentially counter-productive policy that contravenes basic rights, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) argued in a new lawsuit filed yesterday before Egypt's Court of Administrative Justice.

IRAN - The Fate of the Family Protection Law/ Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani’s
Interview with Mahnaz Afkhami, the Second Woman Minister in Iran
The Feminist School: In 1976, Mahnaz Afkhami was appointed Minister for Women’s Affairs, thus becoming the second woman to achieved cabinet position in Iran. Born in Kerman in 1941, Afkhami served as the Secretary General of the Women’s Organization of Iran ( WOI) for eight years,1970-1978. She is currently with Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development and Peace (WLP). Read more

SUDAN- Women Arrested for Wearing Tight Trousers
More than 35 young women wearing tight trousers have been arrested for "disturbing the peace" in south Sudan, police said on Tuesday. (Reuters / Al Watan) .Officers said the arrests in Juba, capital of the semi-autonomous region, were part of a crackdown on youth gangs that have sprung up recently and have a reputation for drinking, fighting and public nudity. Read more

BOOKS & REPORTS
GENDER & EDUCATION
PAKISTAN - Madrassa Religious School Enrollment – Harvard Research – Gender
"Boys are more likely to be enrolled in madrassas compared to girls. The census reports that there are only 43 females enrolled in madrassas for every 100 males. This imbalance is significantly greater than the 68 females for every 100 enrolled males in overall education. For both boys and girls, madrassa enrollment starts at the same age between 5 and 9 years, but girls' enrollment drops off sharply while boys' enrollment jumps for children between 10 and 14, and then tapers off in the mid-twenties." More information

GENDER, ECONOMY & EMPLOYMENT
SAUDI ARABIA - SRI LANKA
A Case of Young Girl Sri Lankan Migrant & Campaign to Save Her Life
WUNRN posts this case status and history to illustrate the vulnerability of migrant workers, especially young, especially FEMALE, assuredly poor, and the complexities of legal and court issues in another country and with religious and/or civil law. In the case of Rizana Nafeek, global intervention, very much through NGOs' leadership, brought the case to public attention and political/diplomatic/legal intervention. Source

SYRIA - Women in NE Rural Syria Miss Out on Property Rights
Traditional Customs vs. National Laws
Women in the rural region of Deir al-Zur in northeastern Syria are being deprived of their rights to inherit property because local communities apply traditional custom and practice rather than national laws. Read more

GENDER RIGHTS & VIOLENCE
ALGERIA: Universal Periodic Review Working Group Report
Gender component excerpts noted in second part of this WUNRN release
CONCLUSIONS AND/OR RECOMMENDATIONS
That the State strengthen its efforts to protect women's rights, including by addressing cultural and social barriers, as well as legal ones; recommends that Algeria cooperate with special proceedures mandate holders; recommends that steps be taken to guarantee the rights of detainees, including immediate access to a lawyer, information to families on detentions and ensuring that judicial authorities are informed on all detentions. More information

A Feminist Reading on Racism and Patriarchalism in the Shadow of the Zionist Discourse on Citizenship and Residence and Under the Citizenship and Entry Into Israel Law
More Information
Direct Link to Document

Bridging the Gap – Women’s Empowerment in the Middle East
Research findings of our survey in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates
Our "Bridging the Gap" survey included questionnaires of a total of 7.474 male and female students from leading Universities in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as graduates and expert interviews and parental perspectives to provide unique data from the region.

EGYPT - 60 Percent of Women Harassed on Daily Basis - Cairo
Protective Laws Unfit for Women on Streets of Cairo
WNN correspondents JOSEPH MAYTON and MANAR AMMAR
CAIRO: Being an Egyptian woman is to accept sexual harassment as daily routine, according to a recent report from the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR). The study outlines, 60 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women are harassed on a daily basis.

LEBANON- Child Sexual Abuse -Girls
The problem of child sexual abuse (CSA) has scarcely been addressed in the Arab world, despite its prevalence worldwide. In collaboration with the Lebanese Ministry Of Social Affairs and Save the Children Sweden, KAFA (enough) violence & Exploitation completed a unique study in Lebanon exploring and highlighting a problem that has otherwise been left behind closed doors in this region. More information

RESOURCES & TRAINING MATERIALS
LEBANON – Women Migrant Domestic Workers
OPPORTUNITIES, ABUSE, EXPLOITATION and ILO VIDEOS
Maid in Lebanon I
Thousands of Asian women leave their homes each year to work as maid in the Arab World with the hope of securing a better economic future. Read more Watch video on YouTube

Palestinian & Israeli Women Believe Women Can Bring Peace and Prosperity to the World
PALESTINIAN & ISRAELI WOMEN TALKING ABOUT THEIR LIVES - VIDEOS
60 YEARS, 60 VOICES
Episode 1 - WOMEN ON BOTH SIDES OF THE WALL