Arab women, long stereotyped as submissive and uninvolved in politics, have been playing a vital role in uprisings around the Middle East, taking part in street protests and demanding reform. In Libya, Iman Bugaighis has even assumed the role of spokesperson for the Provisional Transitional National Council.
How will these uprisings affect the role of women going forward? And what has been the reality of women’s political and social activism until now?
Aljazeera’s Riz Khan discusses Arab women’s enduring fight for a more equitable society with Rabab al-Mahdi, professor of political science at the American University in Cairo; Frances Hasso, professor of Women’s Studies at Duke University; and Nadje al-Ali, a social anthropologist at the University of London:
