Rankings of Best Arab Countries for Women Released

After a comprehensive look at the Arab World, the Thomas Reuter's Foundation has found Egypt as the region's worst country for women to live.  Egypt is the most populous Arab country with a population of almost 81 million.  It seems as though the Arab Spring did not do women much good in Egypt, as their current situation is worse than it was under Mubarak.

The poll ranked twenty-two countries based on various factors: violence against women, reproductive rights, women in the family, women in the economy, women in society, and women in politics.  The study not only has an overall ranking but also ranks the countries in order based on these individual themes.

On the topic of reproductive rights, the countries were assessed based on the policies and customs surrounding pregnancy and job security, access to birth control, access to a legal and safe abortion, and access to reproductive education.  The only two countries in the Middle East that allow abortion without any restrictions or requirements are Tunisia and Turkey, the latter of which is not an Arab country but a predominantly Muslim country.  All other countries in the region prohibit abortions unless in special situations where the mother's mental or physical health is at risk or only when the mother's life is at risk.  If you want to know about any country in the world and its abortion policies, take a look at this link here.Egypt ranks last in the category of reproductive rights. Its policy on abortion actually has no explicit exception listed that permits abortion in the case where the mother's life is at risk.

The most significant issue facing Egyptian women today, which is surely one of the primary reasons for Egypt's low ranking, is the prominence of sexual harassment.  Sexual assault and harassment are the tactics men often used against women during the demonstrations and protests.  The U.N reports that up to 99.3% of Egyptian women are subject to sexual harassment.  If this is a movement to fear women into staying at home and off the streets in order to prevent them from partaking in the political process in Egypt, let's hope that the women fight back and decrease these numbers.

Around 91% of Egyptian women are also subject to female genital cutting or female genital mutilation.  High numbers of women are trafficked and in some villages their economies are dependent on this trafficking in addition to forced marriages.  While these women are clearly being treated as victims in this society, there is still much hope.  Acknowledgement of the problem is the first step, and these Egyptian women are not willing to go down without a fight. They were there in Tahrir Square when Mubarak was ousted, and they will continue to fight for their rights as Egyptian citizens and as women.