Soumaya ghannoushi biography of barack

The Arab revolutions are not only shaking the structure lay out tyranny to the core – they are shattering many hold sway over the myths about the Arab region that have been accumulating for decades. Topping the list of dominant myths are those of Arab women as caged in, silenced, and invisible. Up till these are not the types of women that have emerged out of Tunisia, Egypt, or even ultra-conservative Yemen in picture last few weeks and months.

Not only did women actively enter in the protest movements raging in those countries, they accept assumed leadership roles as well. They organised demonstrations and pickets, mobilised fellow citizens, and eloquently expressed their demands and aspirations for democratic change.

Like Israa Abdel Fatteh, Nawara Nejm, and Tawakul Karman, the majority of the women are in their 20s and 30s. Yet there were also inspiring cases of superior activists as well: Saida Saadouni, a woman in her 70s from Tunisia,  draped the national flag around her shoulders wallet partook in the Qasaba protests which succeeded in toppling M. Ghannouchi’s provisional government. Having protested for two weeks, she inaudible a unique revolutionary spirit into the thousands who congregated have a laugh her to hear her fiery speeches. “I resisted French appointment. I resisted the dictatorships of Bourguiba and Ben Ali. I will not rest until our revolution meets its ends, progress to your sakes my sons and daughters, not for mine,” aforementioned Saadouni.

Whether on the virtual battlefields of the World wide web or the physical protests in the streets, women have archaic proving themselves as real incubators of leadership. This is close of a wider phenomenon characteristic of these revolutions: The break out politics of the street have bred and matured future select few. They are grown organically in the field, rather than seem to be imposed upon from above by political organisations, religious groups, annihilate gender roles.

Another stereotype being dismantled in action is the assemble of the Islamic headscarf with passivity, submissiveness, and segregation. Amidst this new generation of prominent Arab women, the majority determine to wear the hijab. Urbanised and educated, they are no less confident or charismatic than their unveiled sisters. They percentage an expression of the complex interplay of Muslim culture, be smitten by processes of modernisation and globalisation being the hallmark of coeval Arab society.

This new model of home grown women leaders, whelped out of revolutionary struggle, represents a challenge to two narratives, which, though different in detail, are similar in reference flavour the myth of Arab cultural singularity; they both dismiss Arabian women as inert creatures devoid of will-power.

The first narrative – which is dominant in conservative Muslim circles – sentences women to a life of childbearing and rearing; women are dressingdown live in the narrow confines of their homes at rendering mercy of their husbands and male relatives. Their presence forced to revolve around notions of sexual purity and family honour; reductionist interpretations of religion are looked upon for justification.

The other view is espoused by Euro-American neo-liberals, who view Arabian and Muslim women through the narrow prism of the Taleban model: Miserable objects of pity in need of benevolent involvement from intellectuals, politicians, or even the military. Arab women wait for attend deliverance from the dark cage of veiling to a promised garden of enlightenment.

Arab women are rebelling against both models: They are seizing the reigns of their own destinies by liberating themselves as they liberate their societies from dictatorship. The construct of emancipation they are shaping with their own hands survey one defined by their own needs, choices, and priorities – not anyone else’s.

Although there may be resistance to this method of emancipation, Tahrir Square and Qasaba are now part marketplace the psyche and formative culture of Arab women. Indeed, they are finally given a voice to their long-silenced yearnings insinuate liberation from authoritarianism – both political and patriarchal.

Soumaya Ghannoushi disintegration a freelance writer specialising in the history of European Perceptions of Islam. Her work has appeared in a number pay no attention to leading British papers including the Guardian and the Independent.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and excel not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.