I recently participated in a meeting organized by Jordan’s Queen Rania Al-Abdullah as part of her activities in the Arab Women’s Conference. The meeting lasted for a mere two hours, yet the discussions were exceptionally forthright and to the point. The participants had been handpicked, and it is true to say that a meeting of journalists on this level was unprecedented.
The goal of the meeting was unambiguous — to use the media in order to get the message across and make positive changes. There is nothing wrong with that. It is the role of the media to communicate with everyone.
The demands were clear and to the point: “This is the miserable situation of women in the region and this is our message. Tell us how we can convey that message through you.”
There was clear acknowledgement that though the previous seminars brought together experts in the field of women’s affairs, reaching millions of people in the region, both men and women need to use the media.
The media’s largely liberal leanings mean that they will not be difficult to convince of the need to collaborate with the women’s organization, but they remain independent commercial concerns and they are not prepared to risk their money or turn into mouthpieces — nor were they asked to.
I believe that the greatest harm to women’s rights is for the issue to become polarized in a “with us or against us” in manner reminiscent of President Bush. Even the most conservative male societies in the Arab world don’t oppose the idea of helping women. They are, however, anxious about the manner in which the issue is portrayed. When the word “rights” is used, for example, it makes them feel as though they have infringed on women’s rights and reminds them of what is said about the rights of blacks in an apartheid society. There is no enmity toward women; there is a failure to help them. Polarizing the issue will serve neither party.
There is nothing worse than for a developmental issue to be politicized, and it is for that reason that it was a relief to hear from the women at the meeting that the objective was to develop the women’s skills, give them educational and job opportunities and develop their relationship with their own societies.
The host and head of the Arab Women’s Conference, Queen Rania, assured us in her opening statement that she wasn’t a “feminist”. The aim of educating 50 million illiterate Arab women and helping 20 million unemployed women is not a matter limited to this organization but an issue for everyone.
It will not be easy to provide all these opportunities without first providing a social climate for development. This development cannot be realized in light of “Haj Mitwali”: With the highest audience rating of any series, the comic portrayal of an Egyptian man who marries four women to help him advance his career did a great disservice to women.
The ladies also mentioned that they couldn’t impose any kind of censorship, nor do I believe they would want to; communication is the key.
Then came the issue of “honor killings” — inexcusable crimes committed against women. The label that has been attached to them is misleading and dangerous. What kind of honor can attach to killing?
The fact that the media continues to repeat it out of ignorance, and its use in court proceedings, show just how a word can become a partner in crime. Otherwise shouldn’t we call robbery a “crime of poverty”?
We must be realistic in dealing with women’s affairs by seeing their problems within the framework of society’s problems as a whole. Illiteracy is widespread among Arabs; unemployment an overwhelming problem in many societies, while violence is a worrying phenomenon for both genders.
Nevertheless, giving women more job opportunities is a hope many men share, and I have no doubt at all that if women were to find gainful employment then that would open the door for progress on all other levels, without detracting from the importance of enlightenment, education and changes in laws and regulations.
— Arab News Opinion 4 October 2003
