logo
episode-header-image
May 2021
27m 26s

Women of the Arab Spring

Bbc World Service
About this episode

A decade after the uprisings that changed the political landscape of many countries in North Africa and the Middle East, Kim Chakanetsa looks at what impact the Arab uprisings had on the lives of women in Egypt and Syria.

Mona Eltahawy is an Egyptian-American author and commentator. She was at the frontline of clashes between protesters and the military in 2011. Mona is now based in the USA, where she keeps writing about feminism in the Arab world. Her latest book is The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls and her newsletter is called Feminist Giant.

Zaina Erhaim is an award-winning Syrian journalist and filmmaker. Her series of short films, Syria’s Rebellious Women, documented the lives of ordinary women turned activists in the aftermath of the uprisings. Her most recent project, Liberated T, is an advocacy campaign aimed at changing the gender stereotypes around women in the region.

Produced by Alice Gioia

IMAGE DETAILS L: Zaina Erhaim (courtesy of Zaina Erhaim) R: Mona Eltahawy (credit: Robert E. Rutledge)

Up next
Yesterday
The challenges for women in palliative care
Confronting the death of a loved one – or the end of our own life – can be frightening and overwhelming. And yet it is something that will happen to all of us. So how can we open up conversations about the way we want to die? Is it possible to avoid pain and suffering? And who ar ... Show More
26m 29s
May 25
Women saving amphibians from extinction
Datshiane Navanayagam talks to Whitley Fund for Nature winners from India and South Africa who are protecting endangered frogs and salamanders.Dr Barkha Subba is leading the first grassroots protection for the Himalayan Salamander in Darjeeling. The scientific adviser at local NG ... Show More
26m 28s
May 18
Catfishing and its consequences
Online romance fraud and 'catfishing' – when someone pretends to be someone they’re not - is a problem across the globe. It causes financial and emotional devastation, yet many people refuse to take it seriously. Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women from the UK and Sweden wh ... Show More
26m 28s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2023
Féministes arabes au Levant : portraits de femmes libres
Dès la fin du XIXème siècle, des figures féminines engagées dans la lutte pour le droit des femmes ont émergé au Moyen-Orient. Une dynamique particulièrement forte au Levant, de l’Irak à l’Égypte, du Liban à la Palestine. À ces pionnières, musulmanes ou chrétiennes, ont succédé u ... Show More
19m 30s
Jun 2021
Syria’s Top Goon: Art and the Arab Spring
BBC Arabic reporter Dima Babilie marks 10 years since the Arab Spring and speaks to poets, film-makers and artists about how that moment of revolutionary change transformed their lives, their countries and their art. When the protests first broke out in Syria, Dima was a student ... Show More
27m 36s
Nov 2022
Arabian queens, Bangladeshi mothers and women's tales
Shahidha Bari looks at the voices of women emerging from new writing in novels, plays and histories. Zenobia, Mavia, and Khadijah are Arabian queens and noblewomen who feature in the new book by Emran Iqbal El-Badawi which looks at the way female rulers of Arabia were crucial in ... Show More
44m 52s
Jun 2014
The Women of the Arab Spring: Part Two
Mona Eltahawey visits her home country of Egypt where women, who stood side-by-side with men during the protests, now fear to walk the streets without being assaulted. Mona hears from the women who are taking matters into their own hands, standing up to sexual harassers and sayin ... Show More
27m 3s
Oct 2021
FWD: "Midnight in Cairo: The Divas of Egypt's Roaring 20s"
In this afikra FWD, Hasheemah Afaneh talked about 'Midnight in Cairo: The Divas of Egypt's Roaring 20s' by Raphael Cormack. Cormack unveils the rich histories of independent, enterprising women like vaudeville star Rose al-Youssef (who launched one of Cairo’s most important newsp ... Show More
12m 1s
Jun 2017
Modernist Women of Egypt - interview with Yasmin Atassi
In this episode, Hind Mezaina interviews Yasmin Atassi from Green Art Gallery in Dubai about the exhibition Modernist Women of Egypt. The exhibition focuses on the period between the 1950s and early 1970s, it reflects on the role of women artists from that period and addresses is ... Show More
29m 51s
May 2020
Ep 1 - Universalism, Secularism and Islamism: The Three Feminisms of the Arab World
In this episode, we will be diving into the various representations of feminism that exist in our world today, from the West all the way across to the Middle East. Beginning with a brief overview of the most popular Western liberal conception of feminism, we discuss why this pers ... Show More
35m 27s
Nov 2023
EP 1 - The Unicorn
It's 2011, and the Arab Spring is being documented by a heady mixture of up-to-the-minute citizen reporting, tweeting and blogging. One particular voice begins to stand out — the Gay Girl in Damascus — Amina Arraf. On her blog, Amina describes herself as an out lesbian with a pas ... Show More
35m 9s
Oct 2023
Femme, vie, liberté : révolution en Iran
<p><strong>“Femme ! Vie ! Liberté !” : depuis septembre 2022, ce slogan féministe venu d’Iran parcourt le monde entier.</strong> Apparu après le décès de Jina Mahsa Amini le 16 septembre 2022 – une femme iranienne et kurde de 22 ans tuée par la police des mœurs pour avoir mal por ... Show More
50m 33s