MENA GAD EBRIEF December 2016 Issue #175 Collective for Research and Training on Development. Action Middle East & North Africa Gender And Development Electronic Brief NEWS & ARTICLES GENDER ACTIVISM Egypt: Women’s Rights Defender Arrested Lebanese women decry appointment of male Women Should Take the Wheel in Saudi Arabia: women's minister Saudi Prince Calls for End to the Ban on Women Driving Why Egyptian women are taking to the streets in 1960s-style dresses Egypt's parliament under fire for controversial child custody bill Iranian women demand inclusion in Rouhani's Cabinet Saudi officials say more professions should be open to women –newspapers UN Experts: Iran must halt the campaign against Iranian woman seeking missing relatives Syrian girls flee war only to become mothers in Jordan camp GENDER BASED VIOLENCE Lebanon: Reform Rape Laws Prevent Rapists RESOURCES & CALLS From Escaping Punishment by Marrying Victims BOOKS & REPORTS Telling Women to Hide Domestic Violence Women’s Stories, Women’s Lives: Male Authority Behind Make-Up? in Muslim Contexts Amendment in Turkish penal code runs the risk Gender and Equality in Muslim Family Law of seeking consent from children Reaching refugee survivors of gender-based Calls for action as 'honour' killings in Jordan violence – Evaluation of a mobile approach to show sharp increase service delivery in Lebanon GENDER & HUMAN RIGHTS Unpacking Gender: The Humanitarian Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Jordan Lebanon Deports Domestic Worker Rights Organizer The MENA Gender and Development e-Brief receives material from various sources for its publication. Should you wish to refer to these sources/ sites directly, the list includes publications from: AWID: www.awid.org, Democracy Digest: www.freedomhouse.org, e-Civicus: www.civicus.org, Eldis: www.eldis.org, ESCWA: www.escwa.org.lb, GDB: www.developmentex.com, ILO: www.ilo.org, One World: www.oneworld.net, Siyanda: www.siyanda.org, The Daily Star: www.dailystar.com.lb, The World Bank: www.worldbank.org, UNDP: www.undp.org, WLP: www.learningpartnership.org; WIDE: www.wide- network.org; IRIN News: www.irinnews.org, Women’s UN Report Network: www.wunrn.com, Women Living Under Muslim Laws: www.wluml.org NEWS & ARTICLES MENA GAD EBRIEF / Issue 175 – December 2016 Page 1/11 GENDER ACTIVISM Why Egyptian women are taking to the streets in 1960s-style dresses Lebanese women decry appointment of male women's minister Participants of the "Dresses of the Past When Our Streets Were Safe" initiative posing at a cafe in downtown Cairo, Dec. 8, 2016. Women's rights activists criticized Monday the appointment of a man to head Lebanon's newly A new Egyptian initiative is calling upon women created Women's Affairs Ministry, saying to wear 1960s-style dresses as a way women were sorely underrepresented in the to fight sexual harassment. The initiative, dubbed “Dresses of the Past When newly created Cabinet. Our Streets Were Safe,” seeks to normalize the "Is it acceptable to assign a male minister to the sight of women on the streets wearing dresses as it was in the 1960s, when sexual harassment Women's Affairs Ministry?" asked a statement rates were at their lowest. issued by the Women in Parliament Coalition. Hadia Abdel-Fattah, the feminist activist behind "Is this the consecration of the patriarchal the initiative, told Al-Monitor, “It is not about system in Lebanon or is this due to a lack of clothing, because no matter what you wear you competent women for the job?" asked the will get harassed anyway. That is why we encourage women to wear whatever they like.” statement, which was carried by the National News Agency. The initiative comes as part of UN Women's 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Prime Minister Saad Hariri unveiled a new 30- Violence, an international campaign taking member Cabinet Sunday, in which Jean place from Nov. 25 to Dec. 10. Ogasapian became Minister of State for Read more: Women's Affairs. http://www.al- Read more: monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/12/egypt-women- confront-sexual-harassment- http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon- dresses.html#ixzz4TJeYNgb0 News/2016/Dec-19/385947-lebanese-women-decry- appointment-of-male-womens-minister.ashx MENA GAD EBRIEF / Issue 175 – December 2016 Page 2/11 Iranian women demand inclusion in UN Experts: Iran must halt the campaign Rouhani's Cabinet against Iranian woman seeking missing relatives The resignations of three Cabinet ministers in October had raised hope among many women’s Justice for Iran (JFI) welcomes the press rights activists in Iran that President Hassan release which was issued yesterday by five UN Rouhani would nominate at least one woman human rights mechanisms on the concerning to one of the vacant positions. While Rouhani situation of Iranian human rights defender, pledged to incorporate more women into his Raheleh Rahemipour. government during his 2013 presidential campaign, he has yet to fulfill this promise. A group of United Nations human rights experts; the Working Group on enforced or Upon taking office, Rouhani named three involuntary disappearances, the Special women as vice presidents and also tried to place Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of more women as senior state officials. After the the right to freedom of opinion and expression, recent Cabinet reshuffle, he named Zahra the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Ahmadipour as a new vice president as well as human rights defenders, Special Rapporteur on head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and Tourism Organization. Reports suggest that the of association, and the UN Special Rapporteur president is also considering appointing Zahra on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Shojaei as the head of Iran’s National Library Republic of Iran has said “the Islamic Republic and Archives Organization. If finalized, these must end the harassment of a woman trying to two women will replace their male colleagues learn the fate of her brother and his newborn Masoud Soltanifar and Reza Salehi Amiri, who daughter, who disappeared from prison more have now become minister of sports and youth than 30 years ago”. affairs as well as minister of culture and Islamic guidance, respectively, after winning votes of The UN’s Working Group on enforced or confidence from parliament. involuntary disappearances communicated with Ahmadipour is one of three women who the Iranian government in August 2016 about currently hold Cabinet positions at the rank of the relatives of Ms. Rahemipour. Since then a vice president. systematic campaign of harassment and intimidation against her has been launched by The other two women are Masoumeh Ebtekar, the authorities in Iran. She is to appear before a who has been vice president and head of the Revolutionary Court on December 13 charged Environmental Protection Organization of Iran with ‘propaganda against the stated’, and since 2013, and Shahindokht Molaverdi, who ‘participation in unlawful assemblies’. has served as vice president for women and family affairs since Rouhani took office. Elham Read more: Aminzadeh served as vice president for legal http://justice4iran.org/publication/call-for-action/un- affairs from August 2013 to July 2016, and experts-iran-must-halt-the-campaign-against-iranian- currently works as a presidential aide. woman-seeking-missing-relatives/ Read more http://www.al- monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/12/iran-cabinet- reshuffle-women-vp-ministers-shojaei- ahmadipour.html#ixzz4TJfEaelX MENA GAD EBRIEF / Issue 175 – December 2016 Page 3/11 GENDER BASED VIOLENCE Telling Women to Hide Domestic Violence Behind Make-Up? Lebanon: Reform Rape Laws Prevent Rapists Moroccan Women Need Help Confronting, Not From Escaping Punishment by Marrying Covering Up, Domestic Violence Victims Screenshot from an episode of the Sabahiyat morning show on Morrocan state television, which aired on November 23, 2016. Demonstration outside Parliament on December 6, 2016, with women in white “We hope these beauty tips will help you carry dresses and wrapped in bandages, calling for on with your daily life,” said a make-up artist on the repeal of article 522 of the penal code. the morning show Sabahiyat on Morocco’s state Lebanon’s parliament should repeal a penal television last Wednesday. But this was no code provision that allows rapists to escape typical make-up advice: She was teaching prosecution by marrying their victims, Human women how to cover up bruises from domestic Rights Watch said today. Parliament should also violence. amend other provisions to adequately criminalize sexual assault and rape, including by It was, to say the least, a misguided attempt to spouses. commemorate International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, On December 7, 2016, members of the November 25. Parliamentary Committee for Administration and Justice announced an agreement to repeal The show sparked outrage. Activists in Morocco article 522 of the Lebanese Penal Code, which preparing for United Nation’s annual 16 days of allows halting the prosecution or suspending activism against gender-based violence – from the conviction of a person who has committed November 25 until Human Rights Day, rape, kidnapping, or statutory rape if he marries December 10 –were furious that the show told the victim. domestic violence survivors to “cover up” rather than speak out. They started an online Read more: petition calling on the government to take action against the channel. https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/19/lebanon- reform-rape-laws Read more: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/28/telling- women-hide-domestic-violence-behind-make MENA GAD EBRIEF / Issue 175 – December 2016 Page 4/11 Amendment in Turkish penal code runs the risk Calls for action as 'honour' killings in Jordan of seeking consent from children show sharp increase Article 103 of the Turkish penal code, recently As part of 16-day campaign against gender amended and passed through Parliament, runs the violence, activists demand stronger penalties for risk of seeking consent from children between 12 and ‘honour’ crimes and an end to imprisonment of 15 years of age.