Middle East Protest: Women Demonstrate In Egypt, Libya, Yemen (PHOTOS)

In honor of International Women's Day, leaders and rights activists have been prasing the role of women in the protests that toppled dictators in Tunisia and Egypt and appear on the verge of pushing through major changes in other nations in the Middle East and North Africa.

The movements have given the annual day a new energy this year, and as the National is reporting, the issues behind the protests were not about men and women, but rather about Tunisians and Egyptians and Libyans.

"The bodies of women, so often used as ideological battlegrounds, have withstood all kinds of police violence, from tear gas to live bullets," organizers of Egypt's Million Woman March are quoted by CNN as saying. "The real battleground did not differentiate between women and men."

Take a look at women involved in the protests in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and other nations here:

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Comments

[xerocada1]

11:50 AM on 04/21/2011

Culture often plays a role in determining what women/men choose to wear. In many Arab countries, but not all, men do not wear shorts or short-sleeved shirts. Is that oppression?

In Europe, women of all ages often go topless to beaches or neighborhood pools. I can't imagine a woman wearing only the smallest of bikini bottoms frequenting my neighborhood pool. So, are we to say that women are oppressed in the US because they can't go topless as easily as women do in Europe?

[terry63]

10:32 PM on 03/13/2011

Hmmm. Lets see how this will turn out. Muslim men will make fun of the husbands of these women and accuse them of not having control of their house. The Muslim men in question will put an end to it very quickly. How do I know? Ive live in the Muslim world for a couple of years in two seperate countries. Maybe as long as they are quiet and well behaved they will be allowed to march on whatever side of the street that the state requires. Im not putting down Muslim women . I think that they are beautiful and intelligent but they are not free to march anywhere.

[terry63]

10:47 PM on 03/13/2011

Sharia ,anyone?

[niko73]

12:10 PM on 03/13/2011

These are beautiful sights. You go girls!

[Mohamed Yassin]

03:53 PM on 03/12/2011

A guy asked a Muslim: Why do ur girls cover up their body and hair?

Answered: The Muslim guy smiled and got two sweets, he opened the first one and kept the other one closed. He thrown them both on the dusty floor and asked the guy: If I asked u to take one of the sweets which one u will choose?

The Man replied: The covered one.

Then the Muslim said: that’s how we treat and see our women

[DarkandLuvly]

04:18 AM on 03/13/2011

nice. throwing women on the ground that u can pick up and use or give to a friend if he wants. sit down.

[European1919]

02:48 AM on 03/14/2011

Who cares what they do with their women. It's between them and their female folk.

[Barbara Lilly]

08:57 PM on 03/13/2011

Mr. Yassin: I think your allegory was a little more telling than you meant it to be.
Regardless, Islamic women are not the only ones who cover, so do many orthodox jews. When it comes to expressing your faith, I support a person's right to cover (or uncover) whatever they want, as long as it dosn't impinge on the rights of others. I think the anti-hijab laws in Europe are ghastly and prejudicial. Although america dosn't get everything even close to right, I am proud of the liberties and freedoms we enjoy.

[DrHas]

04:32 PM on 03/11/2011

CNN: "The real battleground did not differentiate between women and men."

As if they expected only men to be protesting while the women were all locked up in those muslim countries. Its interesting that they even made such a statement. CNN seemed amazed that women were out there just as much as men in the streets. Clearly another example of how narrow minded the media here is about the middle east. And its evident from lot of the comments here that lot of ppl think women in middle east never get to go out or be free. There is a lot, the avg american person does not know about the women in middle east (thx to the media). An important outcome in my opinion from these middle eastern protests, is that the world (esp America) saw how 'not-so-suppressed' women are in the middle east. Their presence in the streets and the media was so profound that it broke this stereotypic notion (propagated in the western hemisphere by Islamophobes) that muslim women in middle east are usually, suppressed, denied freedoms etc.

Lot of ppl still talking about the emancipation of women, lol. All one needs to do is talk to an arab woman (if not actually going and staying in the middle east). I'm aware of the state in Saudi arabia, but there are so many arab countries. And an important step in learning about middle east would be to make sure we dont get educated from Hollywood.

[niko73]

12:05 PM on 03/13/2011

Best post on the thread, Dr. I especially like this line:

"All one needs to do is talk to an arab woman (if not actually going and staying in the middle east)."

I so tire of Americans/westerners attempting to speak for a group of people they know absolutely nothing about. What's worse, is it seems they don't even want to hear a Muslim woman's perspective. These closed-minded individuals are apparently afraid that her answers might challenge their black and white worldview. If you don't even bother to understand Muslim women--which is impossible without knowing their perspective--you are not helping them. You are acting in your own interest, not theirs.

[Barbara Lilly]

08:48 PM on 03/13/2011

Well said, Dr. I think too many of us are looking to get experience through media reports and not going out and getting real world exposure.

[ruhaba]

10:27 PM on 03/10/2011

HAY all of these started with IRAN, where is Iranian women, pictures ? Not fair.

[Parsifals]

10:44 AM on 03/14/2011

No cameras on the ground.

[healthcarenow]

05:03 PM on 03/10/2011

Great pictures, beautiful women! They deserve emancipation, and dreams to follow...I wish all of that for them.

[Avirahim]

07:19 PM on 03/10/2011

100% agreed!

[DrHas]

04:47 PM on 03/11/2011

True..

[Palaver]

02:56 PM on 03/10/2011

Unfortunately, all some westerners can see is their head scarf. That's quite some complex they have over a piece of clothing. Is civilization really thousands of years old?

[Avirahim]

07:19 PM on 03/10/2011

Well said and agreed.

[DrHas]

04:33 PM on 03/11/2011

Exactly!!

[Candide33]

05:30 AM on 03/10/2011

The men would have taken them more seriously if they would have thrown off the symbols of subjugation.

[healthcarenow]

05:05 PM on 03/10/2011

so it's the womens' fault they are oppressed because they didn't change their clothes??you think it is that easy? you think some didn't try it, still try it?

[Candide33]

05:59 PM on 03/10/2011

Yep... it is their fault.... they did not wear that in the 50s, 60s and 70s ... you never saw a scarf unless it was windy and the woman was keeping her hair from getting messed up.

Egyptian women were just like American and European women at the time, they wore normal clothes, they went to university, they ran for public office, they came and went without being harassed.

They chose to be oppressed and subjugated and give up all of their rights in the last 30 years as a protest against western imperialism.

Now they will now have to fight to regain the rights that they threw away.

One good thing about being old is, you get to witness so much history.

[DrHas]

04:37 PM on 03/11/2011

So you want them to drop their religion which ofcourse some men brought upon them to subjugate them, is it?
Its amazing that you are concerned abt their 'symbols of subjugation' more than they seem to be.

[IsmySophia]

11:14 PM on 03/09/2011

Great article with an important point. I do hate to point out however that the photo used to represent women's participation in Libya is from a pro-Qaddafi rally... doesn't actually go with the theme of women's engagement in anti-dictatorship protests.

[pierre F Lherisson]

09:57 PM on 03/09/2011

It is difficult to see those so called Middle East women's faces since they are wearing very dark sunglasses to mask their face and disguising clothing to conceal their identity. No one in Egypt, Libya or Yemen can identify them as being one of their citizen. They might be paid actors or military personnel from the western powers that are mingling with the protesters for political,propaganda and psychological warfare-PPPW

[DrHas]

04:39 PM on 03/11/2011

Lol, hilarious stuff. Especially when u said it so seriously..

[niko73]

11:56 AM on 03/13/2011

Ever dawn on you that these women are wearing sunglasses because...ready, this is a stretch...it is bright outside?

[Lozange]

09:39 PM on 03/09/2011

In the UK, the reversed peace sign is like our middle finger...tsk tsk

[Erewhon7]

09:37 PM on 03/09/2011

The path towards emancipation of Arab women lies through secularization of Arab societies. There is no other way.

[jfair80]

05:22 PM on 03/09/2011

The women need reforms more than the men.

[Avirahim]

06:27 PM on 03/09/2011

Yes, 100% agreed, jfair80.

If nothing else comes out of these revolutions, but women right's are advanced, that is great thing and much needed!

[wom122]

10:21 AM on 03/12/2011

How so? Do you think men are somehow more enlightened just because they don't don a veil?

[Erewhon7]

03:23 PM on 03/09/2011

Some thirty years ago many of these women would not be wearing fundamnetalist' proscribed clothing. Especially in Egypt and Iran.
Another proof of secularist losses in the Arab Middle East.

[Avirahim]

03:28 PM on 03/09/2011

"Some thirty years ago many of these women would not be wearing fundamneta­list' proscribed clothing. Especially in Egypt and Iran. "

Under the oppressive Shah of Iran, women were forced to NOT wear the hijab, and that was also a denial of freedom of religion and women's choices.

Women should be free to choose, themselves, weather they want to wear it or not.

Forcing any decision is oppressive.

[Erewhon7]

03:48 PM on 03/09/2011

It is impossible to reason with a person who thinks that women have more rights under the Ayatollahs than under the Shah.
You're either totally clueless or a purposefully deceitful.
I would bet on the latter.

[altoplano]

03:51 PM on 03/09/2011

Forcing somebody not to wear an inherently misogynistic symbol is progress.

[altoplano]

05:59 PM on 03/09/2011

The same could be said about Iraq under Hussein. (Not meant to criticize your post, btw; I guess I just find it ironic.)