Political Participation of Young Arab Women in Post Arab Spring: Challenges and Hope

The historic events of 2011, known as the Arab Spring, were driven by the desire for economic, political opportunity and justice. For the Arab countries notable progress in closing the gender gaps in educational and health, and investments in human development have not yet been translated into commensurately higher rates of female participation in economic and political life. Women's involvement in the Arab Spring went beyond direct participation in the protests to include leading and organizing protesters and related activities. They hoped that the events will boost their rights and abridge the persisting gender gap. However the impact has not matched the expectations, especially with the rise of conservative powers. Hence, it is feared that growing fundamental ideologies will exacerbate the already existing gap in empowering young women. These forces may stall, or even reverse, the gains that have been made in gender relations over the past few decades. The main challenges to women’s participation in the public life in the Arab Region include, among other: cultural factors, stereotyped image, 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, scepticism about the Agenda for Women empowerment. The Global Gender Gap Report 2016 (GGG 2016) predicts that closing the gender gap in the Arab World will take 356 years. Women in the MENA region hold only about 15.7 percent of the seats in parliament, the least among the regions, and witnessing the least expansion in civil society and political participation (Women in Parliaments database 2013). In Morocco, the representation of women in parliamentary jumped form 10% in 2008 to 17% in 2014. In Tunisia, this representation passed from 22% in 2008 to 28% in 2014. In Lebanon, women representation in parliament was of 5% in 2008 and become 4% in 2014. In 2012 in Algeria, 147 women, out of 462 candidates, were elected to the National People's Congress, a positive step towards achieving gender equality. In 2012, for the first time in the Region, a woman was named vice-president in National Constituent Assembly. This indicates that women in the Arab Region are capable of participating in the political process, and at the highest post. To abridge the myriad constrains to women’s political participation, a number of urgent measures are needed, among others. These include: changes in policies to secure women’s equality under the law; promoting women’s civic and political participation; and the consolidation of all efforts with great belief in women‘s capabilities to lead and shoulder the responsibility in the building of their nations; and women’s participation in political and civic organization as a mean to enhance their voice in public life.