scholarly journals COMPETING NARRATIVES: HISTORIES OF THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN IRAQ, 1910–58

2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 466a-466a
Author(s):  
Noga Efrati
Keyword(s):  
Women's Rights ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Women's History ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
History Of ◽  
Women’S History

The history of the women's movement in Iraq before 1958 has received little attention in contemporary scholarly literature published in English. Moreover, when surveying the brief accounts in secondary sources, one is struck by their inconsistency. Upon closer examination, two historiographical approaches emerge. One primarily follows the development of women's activities sanctioned by the regime, focusing on organizations and activists associated with the Iraqi Women's Union, established in 1945. The second approach traces developments and organizations linked with the underground League for the Defense of Women's Rights, founded in 1952. This essay argues that members of the rival union and league constructed two competing narratives in presenting the history of the women's movement in pre-1958 Iraq. The article unpacks these two different narratives as they were originally articulated by activists in order to piece together a more elaborate portrayal of the evolution of the early Iraqi women's movement. The essay also explores how scholars have reproduced these narratives, arguing that both activists and researchers were active participants in a “war of narratives” that left women's history the unfortunate casualty

Child Custody and the Decline of Women's Rights

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Spring
Keyword(s):  
Women's Rights ◽  
Child Custody ◽  
Women's History ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Family Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
Women’S History

Wright's article has two themes running through it: a discussion of the meaning of De Manneville and a history of custody in England from medieval times onward set against historians' theories of family development. Comment on her article then is best divided into two parts. I begin with her wide-ranging history, for here she makes an indisputable contribution to women's history that needs only notice and emphasis.

scholarly journals A Novel Attempt at Writing the Women’s History of the Russian Revolution (Reviewing: Cox’s J. The Women's Revolution: Russia 1905–1917. Chicago, Haymarket Book Publ., 2019, 133 p.)

2021 ◽  
pp. 149-154
Author(s):  
И.К. Богомолов
Keyword(s):  
Women's Movement ◽  
Women's History ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
History Of ◽  
Women’S History

В рецензии анализируется монография Джуди Кокс о «женском» взгляде на российскую революцию. Констатируется, что эта новая попытка создать историю «женской революции» в целом оказалась неудачной. История женского движения в России на рубеже XIX–ХХ веков прослежена автором поверхностно с привлечением узкого круга источников и с явным перекосом в сторону большевистской партии. В результате в работе обойдены вниманием многие известные деятели революционного движения, например Мария Спиридонова. В то же время появление такой работы позволяет задуматься о целесообразности отдельных, «мужских» и «женских», обобщающих историй российской революции, как и других социальных катаклизмов сопоставимого масштаба. The article analyzes Judi Cox’s monograph which views the Russian revolution through the lens of female perception. The author of the article maintains that Cox’s attempt to write the women’s history of the Russian Revolution can hardly be called successful. The author of the monograph investigates the history of the women’s movement in Russia at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries in a rather superficial way. The author of the monograph relies on a meager number of sources and views the situation from the Bolshevist perspective. As a result many prominent revolutionaries, such as Maria Spiridonova, remain in the shadow of oblivion. However, the monograph makes one wonder about the necessity of investigating social dramas, such as the Russian revolution, through the prism of male and female perception.

Women in Modern Egypt

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoda Elsadda
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Women's Rights ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Political Sphere ◽  
Egyptian Women ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Egypt

Women in Egypt have always played key roles in society in different historical eras. In the modern period, women were at the forefront of the modernization project that gained momentum at the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. “The woman question” occupied center stage in debates about the new modern nation in the making and against the background of colonial domination as Egypt became a British protectorate in 1882. The period from the 1920s to the early 1950s is noted as a period that was particularly vibrant in the history of the women’s movement and witnessed rapid developments in women’s participation in the public sphere. Women founded magazines, established civil society organizations in all fields, joined the national movement for independence, and contributed to key ongoing debates on the modernization project. In 1952, the Free Officers Revolution resulted in a radical shift in the political sphere: the end of British colonialism, the transformation of Egypt from a monarchy to a socialist republic, and the start of a new era. The new order promoted women’s education and access to the labor market but restricted political rights and freedoms in general, a new reality that inevitably impacted the development of an independent women’s movement. In the 1970s, women’s rights assumed center stage in international politics, a development that had an impact on women in general and Egyptian women in particular. Egyptian women entered the diplomatic corps and participated in drafting international conventions, in representing their country in international forums, and in joining international civil society campaigns for women’s rights. They also established a new generation of civil society organizations that advocated for women’s rights both locally and on the international stage. The year 2011 marks an important moment in the history of Egypt. The wave of revolutions that swept the Arab world resulted in the opening of the political sphere in an unprecedented manner. Women’s rights activists rose to the challenge, and more and more women were active participants in the movement for change. Women joined new political parties that were established in the aftermath of revolutions; they were active participants in numerous political and social initiatives and movements; and they played a prominent role in marches for political and social freedoms. In sum, women in modern Egypt have played key roles in the making of modern Egypt. The story of their contributions and achievements is the story of a movement for change toward a better future.

scholarly journals The Women's Movement and Indonesia's Transition to Democracy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Rinaldo
Keyword(s):  
Women's Rights ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Religious Conservatism ◽  
Women's Rights Movement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Movement Mobilization

Indonesia is an especially interesting case study for democratization and women’s empowerment because it is one of the few Muslim majority democracies and has a long history of women’s mobilization. A vibrant and diverse Indonesian women’s movement arose in the 1990s and played an important role in the democracy movement. Since then, women’s rights activists have achieved some crucial reforms, but have also confronted unprecedented and complex challenges—notably, the rise of religious conservatism. This chapter examines how the Indonesian women’s rights movement has fared with the advent of democratization. While democratization in Indonesia has produced important gains for women’s rights, it has also empowered conservative activists who oppose much of the agenda of the women’s rights movement. Women’s rights activists have had difficulty responding to this challenge because of ideological divisions and lack of a mass base, and because the state has been increasingly willing to defer to conservative forces. In short, the key factors for the fate of women’s rights activism during Indonesia’s democratization have been the patterns of women’s mobilization, the strength of counter-movement mobilization, and political decentralization—all of which have been shaped by pre-transition political legacies. The experience of activists in Indonesia suggests that the recent literature on democratization and women’s rights would benefit from greater consideration of how and when democratization processes can empower illiberal actors, counter-movements, and/or backlash against women’s rights.

Women’s Rights and Democratization in Morocco and Tunisia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentine M. Moghadam
Keyword(s):  
Women's Rights ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Societal Implications ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Equal Citizenship

The chapter examines the activities of women’s rights networks and associations in Morocco and Tunisia since the early 1990s, their relations to both transnational feminist networks and the UN’s global women’s rights agenda, the major campaigns and coalitions they have launched or joined, and their contributions to policies, practices, and discourses of democratization in their respective countries. How the women’s rights movements and “modernizing women” were situated in the Arab Spring, the constitutional and societal implications of the demand for women’s full and equal citizenship, and differences with the Islamist discourse will be a focus of the chapter, which draws on secondary sources as well as the author’s visits to the two countries and interviews with participants in the Arab Spring.

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