Has Corona stopped the march to empower women in the Arab world?

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In a message to the world on International Women’s Day, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the Corona epidemic had wiped out decades of progress towards gender equality, noting that the epidemic had disrupted the lives of women with the increase in work. loss and exacerbation of unpaid care burden and disruption Study and escalation of exploitation and domestic violence.

A United Nations report says the epidemic may undermine 25 years of efforts to empower women and achieve gender equality, as women do more housework and care for families during quarantine, and Women’s rights have diminished in light of the epidemic, and this is expected to last.The consequences will outlast the pandemic itself.

Guterres called on states, businesses and institutions to adopt special measures and quotas to advance women’s equal participation and achieve rapid change.

In her interview with “Sputnik”, the President of the Egyptian Federation and the former President of the Arab Women’s Union, Dr. Hoda Badran, The pandemic “has had an impact on women and there are studies indicating an increase. domestic violence during the pandemic, due to increased tensions, friction and economic conditions, especially with women working in the informal sector stopping work and not having full insurance. “

Badran stressed that “much less than expected has been achieved in the area of ​​women since the Beijing conference, especially in light of the increase in the number of organizations concerned with women’s rights and the increase in the budget. government allocated to the advancement of women. However, what has been achieved in some countries in legal and economic terms was promising. ”

Regarding the status of women in the Arab world, the head of the Association of Working Women, lawyer Iqbal Dogan, said that “the revolutions and political upheavals that have taken place in the Arab world in recent years years have caused a decline in the status of women, particularly in Lebanon, where the Corona pandemic and health conditions have combined with political conditions and the rejection of government by the streets. These conditions hamper community reform projects and develop women’s work. ”

Regarding feminist work and women’s rights organizations, the former president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, Ms. Khadija Al-Riyadh, said: “There are serious and corrupt organizations, and unfortunately, the authorities of some Arab countries do not prosecute them. On the contrary, they sometimes resort to the harassment of associations which have a human rights ideology and a presence which disturbs the authority because it throws the spotlight on corruption in the corridors of the administration. “

On the social aspect of the empowerment of women, the professor of sociology, Dr. Maysa Al-Rawashdeh “There is a patrimonial division of roles in the Arab world, placing women in a position that they cannot transcend , and her confusion in a traditional role that distracts her from the rest of the roles in society, but now she plays many roles, and this change in her role has not been accompanied by an appropriate change in the role of men. Therefore, women’s self-realization has come at the expense of their health and condition, and these numerous jobs have weighed them down due to the lack of division of labor between them and men.

Al-Rawashda asserted that the Arab world “still lives in a male society and the participation of women in its leadership is still limited. Women who are trying to prove their presence in social and political life face a lot of pressure and rejection, and we need to change. this culture in Arab societies at a longer civilized age and more freedom.