Alain Daou
American University of Beirut
Assistant Professor
ad73@aub.edu.lb
Lebanon
Biography
Alain Daou is an Assistant Professor in entrepreneurship at the Olayan School of Business (OSB) at the American University of Beirut. Before joining academia, Alain worked for 10 years with several not-for-profits as project manager, country manager, in house advisor and consultant in Canada, Central America, Middle East and Africa.
Upon completing his PhD at Laval University in Canada (2014), he moved to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium to complete a post-doctoral research project on social entrepreneurship. Since joining OSB in 2016, Alain received several grants to work on projects related to transformational entrepreneurship in Iraq; social entrepreneurship in Lebanon; circular economy in the wine industry; waste management and entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship and disability; and women angel investors in Lebanon among others.
Through his research, Alain tries to understand how certain types of enterprises such as social enterprises, not-for-profit and small and medium businesses innovate, scale up and have a positive social and economic impact on stakeholders and society as a whole.
Abstract:
Abstract While acknowledging that the engagement in risk finance on the funding side is male dominated and it is harder for women investors to acquire legitimacy, and while the bulk of the literature shows that on the demand side, women entrepreneurs are more risk averse and seek less risk capital, and even when they do seek it, they are less likely to receive it due to signaling, unconscious biases and stereotypes, this study aims to examine the decision making process by a league of women angel investors from a gender perspective. What happens when a league of women investors takes the initiative to invest in women only led ventures, what happens if there is a gender accord on both the demand and the supply side? Would women investors show partiality or would a Queen Bee syndrome emerge? Would women entrepreneurs be more encouraged to approach risk capital as a source of finance? A qualitative survey comprised of in-depth interviews with active Lebanese women angel investors allows us to compare their decision making process, performance expectations and investment drivers when funding women led ventures.
Fatimaezzahr Belfakir
University of Tunis
Ph.D. Student
fatimaezzahrabelfakir@gmail.com
Morocco
Biography
Consultant/Researcher with many international NGO such as USAID, ASSF, IIEOP on Gender, Youth, Political Participation, Migration, etc. Published an article on Ph.D. theses’ Trends in Social Sciences: The Case study of Hassan II-Casablanca University and El Akhawayn University '', In the Research Trends of Ph.D. Dissertations in Arabic Universities: Thinking’s Difficulties from Outbox, edited by Applied Social Sciences Forum, pp.93-112 .Tunisia: Tunis.
Fatimaezzahra Belfakir, Moroccan Advanced PhD Candidate PhD of Sociology in Gender and Politics at Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of Tunis at Tunisia. M.A. in Gender Studies from Hassan II University at Casablanca, Morocco. Biography
Co-founder of Young Researchers on Gender in Morocco Group, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences Ain Chock, Morocco.
Abstract
This research proposal aims to analyze the impact of violence on women’s political career in political parties, then, we attempt to analyze multiple ways in which acts of violence and strategies of resistance are gendered. This study is based on three hypotheses that violence pushes women to abandon their political career in parties. In addition, the more gendered violence in political parties increased, the more political representation of women decreased. Furthermore, violence against women in political parties forces them to enact their gender submissive roles (i.e. utilizing support from husbands, brothers…) In its methodology, this research proposal relies on interviews, a collection of narratives of women politicians as candidates, elected leaders, party members, designated officials and party supporters, as well as other documents. It will also be based on content analysis of the available documentation, press articles, social media blogs and videos on this subject.
Huda Alsahi
Scuole Normal Superiore
Ph.D. Student
Huda.alsahi@sns.it
Bahrain
Biography
Huda Alsahi is a final year PhD student in Political Science and Sociology at Scuola Normale Superiore in Italy, under the supervision of Professor Donatella Della Porta. Her research interests include the intersection of gender and politics in the Arab Gulf States and the political use of Information and Communication Technologies, as her current research project focuses on filling the gap in the contemporary scholarly work on social movements, cyberspace and women's activism in the Arab Gulf States, through tracing the gradual evolvement of cyber-feminism as a practice and a discursive activity with special focus on Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. She has been a visiting scholar at the department of Gender Studies at the University of California, Los Angles, and the winner of the 2017 Graduate Paper Prize from the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies (AGAPS). Moreover, she had written several articles about the status of Gender in the Arab Gulf States and participated in many academic conference and events such as: the American Political Science Association, ECPR, BRISMES, among others.
Abstract
The vilification of Moroccan women in the Khaleeji Cybersphere Abstract: This project will be mainly concerned with examining the underlying mechanisms behind some of Khaleeji women engagement in cyberbullying behavior towards Moroccan women in social networking platforms. I conceptualize cyberbullying as any deliberate harm inflicted through the use of electronic devices that contains gender-based slurs, negative stereotyping and offensive language. I will seek therefore, to answer the research question of what are the main factors that are related to the activation of cyberbullying behavior by Khaleeji women towards Moroccan women in cyberspace?
Ihab Elwy
Operations Manager
Catholic Relief Services
ihab.elwy@gmail.com
Egypt
Biography
Ihab Elwy received his master’s degree in Gender and Development in 2018 from Faculty of Economic and Political Science, Cairo University and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex. His thesis was addressing sexual violence against men in conflict settings and NGOs provisions. He is enrolled in Training to Engaged Research Group on Gender Violence organized by TERG and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS). The program is focusing on gender violence in public spaces where Ihab is discovering the relationship between hegemonic masculinity and violence against gay men in the public spheres in Egypt.
Abstract
There are pervasive patterns of gender-based violence against gay men within societies. This research provides a general description of the nature of violence against gay men in public spheres in Egypt. It also discovers the relationship between hegemonic masculinity and violence against gay men in such prejudice and hostile environment. The research uses the results of MENA Region surveys and reports in addition to a research questionnaire and in-depth interviews with a combination of quantitative and qualitative data analysis to discover this relationship based on participants’ answers. The research examines anti-gay violence and harassment in public spheres in Egypt such as the schools, university campuses, public transportation venues, and streets. The paper would expose the tendency in anti-gay violence and the relationship between such violence and increasing awareness about masculinities and gender norms. It will show the limitations of the existing data and the need for greater attention to the issue.
Jabrane Amaghouss
Cadi Ayyad University
Assistant Professor, Economics
j.amaghouss@gmail.com
Morocco
Biography
Jabrane Amaghouss hold a PhD in economics. He is currently a professor of economics at Cadi Ayyad university, Marrakech, Morocco. He is a specialist in Development Economics, with strong knowledge of economics of education.Biography
Abstract
Despite the various reforms adopted by Morocco in recent years, the internal performance of the higher education system remains below the aspirations of society. Official statistics show that 64% of university students drop out in 2015 before graduation. This phenomenon is higher among female students. The aim of the paper is to describe and analysis the factors behind this phenomena by focusing our intention on social factors. The data come from a survey of a sample of students enrolled in the first year of the program "Economics and Management Sciences" program of the Faculty of Economic, Legal and Social Sciences. It is an open access institution of Cadi Ayyad University located in Marrakech, Morocco. The results show that the phenomenon of university drop-out is at the crossroads of the intersection of individual, social, economic and institutional factors.
Mariam Mecky
SOAS, University of London
Master’s Student
mariam.mecky@gmail.com
Egypt
Biography
Mariam Mecky is Egyptian feminist researcher. She received an MA in Gender Studies and Law at SOAS, University of London in 2018 and a BA in Political Science from the British University in Egypt in 2013. Mecky has been working as a researcher, journalist and NGO worker focused broadly on gender issues and politics in Egypt and the MENA region at large. Her interests include but not limited to; gender-based violence, feminist mobilization, state, and resistance, and body politics.
Abstract
My research project examines how entities support female victims of gender-based physical spousal violence to seek divorce in the light of the lack of criminalization of domestic violence in Egypt. In other words, I aim to address the work of experts and their interactions with the law; and within that process, unpack the multi-facetedness of interventions around domestic violence with the law and the state. In that vein, I also examine how the Egyptian law, in its ambiguity, hinder or helps the survivors. Using a transnational feminist approach including a structural violence approach, this project shall interrogate how work around gender-based domestic violence operates in Egypt, and explore how the worker work with the plurality of the legal structure to support female survivors of gender-based physical spousal violence to exit their abusive marriages in Egypt post 2011.
Mohamed Sholkamy
American University in Cairo
mo.s.sholkamy@gmail.comResearch Officer
Egypt
Biography
Mohamed has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector, working on issues of gender inequality, social exclusion, and unemployment. He currently works at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) conducting research and policy outreach on social protection and girls’ empowerment. Previously, he worked at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in Egypt where he participated in conducting impact evaluations and disseminating evidence about job training and women’s empowerment.
Mohamed earned a Master of Arts degree in Development Studies from the University of Sussex’s Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in 2014.
Abstract
How does the Egyptian government’s exclusive definition of development post-2014, the new NGO law, and its –allegedly– conservative social attitudes affect its ability to learn about and address gender struggles comprehensively and inclusively? This study aims to explore the effects that a restrictive research environment in Egypt has had on knowledge production in the gender studies field and how this information deficit, in turn, inhibits its ability to produce effective /inclusive policies that address gender disparities. Data will be collected through semi-structured interviews with researchers and development practitioners working in the field of gender in Cairo and a discourse analysis will be carried out to shed light on the Egyptian government’s stance on gender research and development.
Mohammed Nasr
Assuit University
Lecturer
Sp_elkhawaja@yahoo.com
Egypt
Biography
Mohamed Nasr is a researcher in social sciences and care policies. PhD in Planning and Social Policy. He was interested in the issue of developing social welfare policies in Egypt in the light of the electronic transformation and globalization. His interest in the Masters was in youth, especially the ways of expressing their needs in the light of E-culture and how to plan to satisfy them. Nasr Director of the Office of Zakat and Alms House Egyptian, a charity for the disbursement of Zakat funds in the social services and their planned. He has experience in childhood (Child Protection Policy - Orphanages) for more than three years in international and local organizations.
He has research publications including: Residential care for children and young people in the developing world, Social technologies as a variable in the development of social welfare policies in Egypt, Social technologies and support in Egypt, as well as Masters and PhD. , And holds some members of social work institutions such as (NASW), (CSWE). Seeks to promote his work socially planned, the competence in social welfare policies, and management of social institutions and social responsibility. His goal is to look to promote itself and gain more experience and professional skills and functional. His mission is to provide the best performance and quality, based on the latest knowledge and practical knowledge in social sciences, social planning, social welfare policies, and other related fields.
Abstract
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a type of domestic violence practiced by the husband or partner in an intimate relationship with the wife or other partner. Intimate violence can take a number of forms (physical, verbal, emotional, economic, sexual abuse). This study seeks to answer the research question: What is the relationship between Intimate partner violence and divorce rates in Upper Egypt?
The common mental image of the Upper Egypt community refers to family cohesion, and divorce is an idea that is not reflected in the minds of women. Divorce rates in Upper Egypt are the lowest in Egypt, but the opposite is true. Egypt's divorce rate in 2012 reached 45% during the first year of marriage. The governorate of Assiut is one of the highest divorce rates among the other governorates. The concept of violence in the Upper Egypt community is limited to physical violence and the majority of reasons for divorce are attributed to this reason. However, there are real reasons for divorce, including the result of intimate partner violence, which is an obstacle to disclosure.
This study aims to identify the relationship between intimate partner violence, divorce rates or marital instability, and then work to educate and guide the next and future women to marry the dangers and consequences of intimate partner violence, as well as imparting some life skills through seminars and workshops to avoid falling into Intimate partner violence.
Nassier Al-Zubaidi
Baghdad University
Assistant Professor
nassieralzubaidi@gmail.com
Iraq
Biography
Nassier A B. Al-Zubaidi is an associate professor of English language and linguistics at the Department of English of the Faculty of Arts in Baghdad University, Iraq. He is holding a PhD degree in English language and linguistics with a minor in cross-cultural pragmatics. Research interests include feminist linguistics, interlanguage and cross-cultural pragmatics, contrastive rhetorics, genre analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis and cultural linguistics. Al-Zubiadi has published many research papers in national and international academic journals besides a number of published books within the domain of linguistics. He is a member of the editorial boards of several international journals and of national and international academic societies of linguistics and translation studies. Academic Occupation: Department Chair. Academic Affiliation: Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Baghdad University, Baghdad, Iraq.
Abstract
The discourse of Iraqi folk proverbs is full of subtle and abusive forms of language use which are often derogatory to women, a situation traceable to the socio-cultural dictates of a male dominated culture. The proposed research is intended to account for the discursive representation of linguistic violence against women in Iraqi folk proverbs. It examines the relationship between linguistic violence within Iraqi proverbial discourse and diverse norms and practices related to gender violence and discrimination in Iraq. To achieve the research objective, a compiled corpus of Iraqi proverbs is studied from a feminist critical discourse analysis perspective. A qualitative content analysis is used for the examination of the compiled corpus of proverbs. On the basis of corpus analysis, a number of conclusions and implications are provided
Natalie Hannuneh
Birzeit University
Master\s Student
Natalie177h@hotmail.com
Palestine
Biography
I am from Palestine. I received my Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature and a diploma in Psychology from Bethlehem University, Palestine. I’ve been teaching English Literature in Bethlehem University since 2015. I got my Master’s degree in Gender and Development from Birzeit University.
Abstract
Most of the literature on Palestinian women political prisoners focuses on the oppressive Zionist tactics that are done upon the prisoners’ bodies. Although it’s very important to study the systems of power that are constantly trying to discipline and punish Palestinian women political prisoners’ bodies, yet the proposed research focuses on the ways these bodies talk back. In other words, it studies how Palestinian women fight the colonist inside Zionist jails using their bodies as a strategic and an embodied means of resistance. It tackles the ways these women subvert the tactics that are done upon them, and the ways they create fluid and agent subjectivities. The focal point of the proposed research is to prove that the “subalterened” can speak and write their narrations of history.
Nay Elrahi
Harass Tracker
Co-founder
Nayelrahi@gmail.com
Lebanon
Biography
Nay El-Rahi is a Beirut-based feminist writer, activist, and ILO certified gender audit, working on gender auditing of political parties and syndicates in Lebanon. She has a BA in journalism from the Lebanese University and an MA in Global Media and PostNational Communication from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. Since 2008, Nay has been working at the intersection between advocacy for gender justice; and the production of critical knowledge around its relevant themes. She has published on platforms like Assafir, Al Modon, Sawt Al Niswa and The Guardian, and has worked with Oxfam in Lebanon and Tunisia, Raising Voices (East Africa), the Arab Institute for Women, and Kafa among others. Currently, she teaches at the Lebanese American University’s (LAU) Communication Arts Department; is an independent researcher on gender, and sexuality; namely sexual harassment in public and semi- public spaces in Lebanon; and is the co-founder of the initiative HarassTracker to fight the normalization of sexual harassment in Lebanon.
Abstract
Much of our understanding of sexual harassment as researchers and activists comes from established theories often leading to ineffective on-the-ground interventions. Overwhelmingly, literature on gender-based violence, and particularly sexual harassment, in and from the Arab region was uncritical of the definition of sexual harassment in Western literature, based on the individualist construct of the self. What we missed by being uncritical of this definition is that different constructs of the self, yield different understandings and experiences of bodily discomfort or what we commonly refer to as sexual harassment. The term ‘sexual harassment’ as we know it, has hence failed to explain the phenomenon in our context, and to capture the vocabulary around it that is specific to how women experience discomfort without experiencing it as a violation. This failure is largely a result of exploring the two notions: selfhood, and gender-based violence in the Arab world, in isolation of one another, without giving sufficient attention to what the intersection of the two yields.
This project aims at exploring these two notions in what their intersection yields, in order to make sense of this experience of the women in Lebanon. It aims to look beyond the obvious understanding of sexual harassment. Through the narratives of Lebanese women living in Beirut, it aims to identify how our connective selves - constructed around our kin and intimate others in our homes - influence our experience and perception of bodily discomfort and uncomfortable encounters with non-kin in the street. The driving hypothesis is that the more women focus on the intent of the perpetrator of their discomfort in the street, the less they perceive it as sexual
harassment.
Only one focus group has been conducted thus far; but from the resistance encountered in the process of recruiting participants, one finding is obvious: the narratives of women in Beirut on their discomfort in public spaces are buried under layers of sometimes their own denial, but mostly behind the gates of their community and its gatekeepers.
Radwa Samy
General Authority for Investment
Researcher
Radwa.samy@aucegypt.edu
Egypt
Biography
Radwa Abo Shady is a researcher at the General Authority for Free Zones and Investment (GAFI), Egypt’s investment promotion entity. She has nine years of experience in the field of research working in different research institutions, both public and private, in Egypt. Ms. Abo Shady completed her undergraduate bachelor degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University. She also holds a Master degree in Euro Mediterranean Studies from Cairo University and is currently pursuing another Master degree in Public Policy from the American University in Cairo as a Jameel fellow. This experience allowed her to take part in two different study tours, to China and South Africa.
Her professional experience ranges from proposal writing and fundraising for research projects, data collection, report editing, workshop organizing to monitoring and evaluating the economic performance of businesses. Additionally, her research interests focused on the areas of environmental policies, renewable energy, energy subsidy reform, regulating access to information, illegal migration, transparency, Gender, and investment environment. She took part in the last YMP in Spain in 2018, and it was a breathtaking experience.
Ms. Abo Shady is a 2015 Google Award Winner for her presenting a project idea on using Google tools in promoting the rule of law in Arab Countries, from the first Arab Liberty Festival hosted in Morocco. She also has published reports and papers as listed:
• Women in the informal small business in Egypt, 2018, published by the American University in Cairo.
• “Informal Economy in Arab Spring Countries, Egypt case study,” 2015, published by the Freie Universität Berlin.
• “Manual to Evaluate Access to Information in Egypt based on International Standards,” 2013, published by the Support Technology Center (SITC) and Oxfam international.
• “Report on the Access to Information in Egypt,” 2015 funded and published by Ford Foundation.
Abstract
The paper is trying to estimate the direct cost women on her way to work bear and the indirect cost the state is losing when women do not take public transportation as they are not safe. Listening to the experience and stories of women facing and how that sometimes impacts their participation in joining the labor force. Providing safe mobility will improve the situation of women and affecting the empowerment. Besides, the issue of sexual harassment and unsafe mobility is like a moral and ethical one. People try to see it from a legislative perspective. I believe if policymakers and society see the impact in a real figure, it is expected to make more effort to provide them with safe mobility without paying high costs. I can see this work as a way to develop the women empowerment in the work environment. Most of the literature focuses on work environment and work safety measurements rarely take into consideration the cost women bear to provide safe and comfortable access to work. Sometimes, this factor even prevents her from doing some jobs which are far from her home or is not safe for her. Those risks lead to another opportunity cost that men only take those opportunities as they can afford the related risks.
Rana Ahmed
FEPS, Cairo University
Master’s Student
ranaseifeldinahmed@gmail.com
Egypt
Biography
Rana has a BA in Japanese Language Studies from Ain Shams University and an MA in Comparative Linguistics from Tokyo University for Foreign Studies. She obtained her MA in Gender and Development Studies at Cairo in 2018. Her research interests are; gender and mobility, the middle classes, sexuality, and the body.
Abstract
This study explores the effect of designating women-only cars in the metro in Cairo on the female metro riders’ perceptions of safety. My hypothesis is that the women-only cars will provide different power relations than the space dominated by men. Men mainly dominate and use public space from a position of power and entitlement that often legitimizes sexual harassment against women. I assume that the dominance of female riders and the absence of men (except the occasional male intruders and vendors) will result in the absence of sexual risk and causes a shift in women’s perceptions of safety. This would be visible in the transformation in their behavior and spatial practices (their body language, their attire, their conversation and so on). Furthermore, due to the unique nature of this space (i.e. dominance of female riders in the metro car), I believe it will lead to the enactment of forms of power relations related to class and gender different from the ones in the non-segregated metro cars (e.g. women will have more power over than the male vendors and male intruders). This shift in power dynamics could cause women to negotiate the space differently based on how they perceive their safety in women-only cars. Some of these space negotiation techniques might be decreasing one’s visibility by avoiding to sit down next to others, staring at the phone or standing by the door (to avoid vendors). Another form ofnegotiations women might resort to is the avoidance of riding certain metro lines or riding at certain times of the day. To test this hypothesis, the study will be a qualitative study based on observation and in-depth interviews to explore how women perceive and define safety within the women-only metro cars and how this perception affects their negotiation techniques of the space.
Rana Hassan
Universita Politecnica de Madrid
Ph.D. Student
rhassan@riseup.net
Lebanon
Biography
Rana Hassan is an urban researcher currently pursuing her PhD at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Her
thesis studies the current situation of urban grassroots initiatives in Lebanon and their potential to foster a
transformation in the role played by civil society in the production of urban space. She holds an MSc in Urban
Planning and Policy from the American University of Beirut, with a thesis entitled: Bypassing Exclusionary
Laws: The Case of the Informal Development of Nahr El Bared Camp’s Extension.
Abstract
Women are subjected to daily aggressions in their use of public spaces; either in form of explicit violence and harassment, or through factors that make them feel unwelcome in that space. While this is a shared and common experience in Beirut, empirical research from an urban perspective yet needs to be undertaken. The feminist body
of literature is full of accounts about how women confront inequality and oppression regarding their reproductive rights, their workplace, their domestic labor, and others. But very few texts look at how women do so in their neighborhoods and cities, and even fewer analyze this according to class. Our research aims at understanding how the city shapes the practices of women in public spaces, and how class informs these practices. By placing women’s practices in the center and looking at how these practices are altered by the gendered public space, and by addressing the correlation between class and these practices, this research’s initial hypothesis is that women from upper class backgrounds deal with gendered obstacles in the city with individual strategies, whereas women from lower class backgrounds do so with communal ones.
The fieldwork conducted so far in a specific neighborhood of Beirut (Geitawi in Ashrafieh) confirms our initial
hypothesis. However, it also reveals that while coping mechanisms are related to class, the perception of obstacles is related to different dimensions. In particular, we recognized sect, race, citizenship (or rather, non-Lebanese citizenship and exposure to racism) and sexual orientation, as four very relevant indicators, and should be contemplated together with class.
A gendered perspective on physical urban space that addresses questions of class, race and sexual orientation, will support demands by feminist, urban and different social movements, towards a more inclusive city.
Reeham Mourad
Ain Shams University with Stuttgart University
MSc, Integrated Urbanism & Sustainable Design
reeham.emourad@gmail.com
Egypt
Biography
Reeham Mourad is an independent researcher and urbanist based in Cairo, Egypt. She obtained a master degree in IUSD “Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design” from the University of Stuttgart in Germany and Ain Shams University in Egypt in 2016. She graduated from the Architectural engineering department, Cairo University in 2010. Previously, she worked with Madd Platform and 10 TOOBA on urban projects in Cairo by using bottom-up approaches and participatory methods in urban planning which include the local inhabitants in the development process. In her research, she tries to connect the theory with empirical reality from an urban anthropological perspective that establishes the idea of the right to the city. She is interested in urbanism, geography, gender, security, and ethnographic studies.
Project title
Geographical Thoughts on Gender Oppression and Gentrification inside the Pottery Village, KomGhorab, Historic Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract
KomGhorab is a historic neighborhood in which located in Old Cairo District. In this paper, I question the impact of gentrification as a representation of cultural imperialism and the rising of the creative class as a social group on the everyday life of the working-class women located in KomGhorab neighborhood and their accessibility to Darb1718 that is contemporary art center in the pottery village. Moreover, it encounters a set of historical narratives that describe the process of the Egyptian millennium development plans and the causes behind gentrification starting from 2000 until now. The paper looks at the presence of Darb1718 and how it creates a conflict over the urban space of the pottery village as well as KomGhorab. The paper aims at investigating how the rising of the creative class including the foreign artists in the view of gentrification affects the working-class women and create different forms of gender dynamics. Additionally, it aims at exploring the indicators of gender oppression and how oppression is spatially manifested in the pottery village in KomGhorab. I take Young’s notion of oppression as a structural concept, its five faces, her classification of social groups and other discussions on feminist geography, gentrification, and cultural practices. This is based on an ethnographic study that adopts feminist methods like oral history, participant observations, and in-depth interviews.
The paper presents findings based on an analysis of feminist empiricism and the framework by young in which gentrification creates different social groups differentiated in social class. These social groups are highly visible in the pottery village with their cultural practices. These cultural practices, specifically by the Caucasian’s artists, create a different mode of resistance and protection from the working- class men in KomGhorab towards their wives and Darb1718art center.
Salma Bouchiba
Ecole des Hautes Etudes des Sciences Sociales
Master’s Student
Salma.bouchiba@gmail.com
Morocco
Biography
Salma Bouchiba is an independent researcher, she graduated from the University of Manchester in 2017 with a MSc in Poverty and Development. Her master's thesis was on power dynamics within social movements and did her fieldwork in Imider where she worked on the case of the Movement On the Road '96. Her current research focuses on social movements, social justice and gender. Salma is taking part in the The Training to Engaged Research Group (TERG), a two year training programme in engaged transformative gender research managed by the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS). She is also working with a research team on a project about “Environment exploitation, impoverishment and Ecojustice learning within Social Movements in Morocco: The case of the Movement On the Road’96 (MOR’96), Imider”. The project is part of the Research Grant Programme funded by the ACSS. Additionally, Salma is activist and has extensive experience of voluntary work with civil society organisations, she was president of the association Cap Democracy Morocco in 2013.
Abstract
Soulaliyates women are members of ethnic groups that own collectively communal land in Morocco. According to customary law, women were not allowed to inherit land, with tenure passing only from father to son. The increasing commodification of land driven by neoliberal urban restructuring in Morocco has brought to the forefront the conflict over women’s access to land and pushed Soulaliyate women to fight for legal and social recognition of their right to obtain compensation when the land they used to live and work in is sold. After more than 10 years of struggle, the Soulaliyate women’s movement, supported by feminist organisations in Morocco, gained the right to be included in the list of beneficiaries of compensation.
This research will try to identify the gendered impacts of this struggle at the family and community level by looking at how gender roles and norms were affected by Soulaliyates women’s participation in the movement and their subsequent access to compensation. The working hypothesis is that this movement created opportunities for Soulaliyate women to access public space, gain bargaining power through new skills and the awareness of their rights thus challenging some aspects of patriarchy while reinforcing others by using patrilineal affiliation to support their claim to land.
This project is important for three main reasons. First, it will contribute to the debate on the gendered impact of changes in women’s property and land rights. By creating knowledge about the complexity of social change, this research will allow scholars and policy makers to gain an understanding of the impact of changes in land tenure systems on gender relations and patriarchal systems. Second, it will fill the gap in the literature regarding the gendered impact of the Soulaliyate women’s mobilisation to access land since previous research is limited to the mobilisation itself and the legal changes that followed it.
Shadwa Ramadan
Kuwait University
Master’s Student
Shadwa_ramadan@hotmail.com
Kuwait
Biography
I am a Business Development Supervisor and Associate Consultant in Kuwait. I have a Masters of comparative Political Science (2018) –Kuwait University with a 4/4 points. I also studied an International Politics as a MA Exchange Student in Marmara university in turkey. I have a bachelor’s Degree in Political Science (2012), with a minor in economics Kuwait University.
Abstract
This study is based on numerous interviews and fieldwork in Egypt with human rights centers, Activists lawyers and female activists who were politically and sexually assaulted. This study will analysis the survivors’ stories from their perspectives during their political work between 2011 – 2015, Trying to find out how the survivors analysis and explain their stories from their point of view and how this analysis can lead us to new findings and concepts
Sihem Drissi
Faculty of Law & Political Science Tunis
P.h.D. Student
Sohatn2005@yahoo.fr
Tunisia
Biography
Sihem Drissi is a Phd student of political sciences in the Faculty of Laws and Political Sciences, at the University of ELManar (Tunisia). Her doctoral research investigates the process of democratization in Tunisia. Her main research interests focus on gender studies, International Relations, Public policies and political studies.
Abstract
The research relates the critical gender studies and gender-based violence with studies of authoritarianism, democratization and transitional justice, focusing on the case study of Tunisia. It explores the hypothesis that the current Tunisian political transition to democracy reveals a prevalence of gender-based violence which is articulated in legal frameworks, in public spheres, media debates and in the pattern of social behavior. Focusing on homophobia and all forms of violence against women as a category of abuse and political contest in Tunisia, this research identifies how it is routinized and politicized despite efforts of feminist advocacy. It contributes on gendered violence in Tunisia by describing the impacts of feminist advocacy, human rights activists and state initiatives on the experiences of victims themselves.