How many women are represented in the Tunisian parliament? Do women in Iraq have the right to seek divorce? And in which countries is abortion legal? Find the answers to these and many more questions in this country overview that offers information on women’s rights in the Middle East, North Africa and Denmark. For each country you will find facts on women and education, women’s legal and civil rights, women’s status on the labour market and other relevant information. 

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The delegates at the International Conference on Border Security, that was recently held in the Saudi capital Riyadh, unanimously agreed that there is an urgent need for the employment of women in the security services, in view of what they could achieve in dealing with issues relating to female defendants in prisons.

A field study prepared by Dr. Ghada al-Tarif, professor of criminal sociology at Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University, reported that despite the need for Saudi women to work in the field of security, women are currently limited to a selection of security posts.

Read more at asharq-e.com

A woman now ranks third in the world’s 500 most influential Arabs published by Arabian Business.

Finance lecturer Reem Asaad, known for her campaign to get women working in lingerie shops in Saudi Arabia, is now ranked third among the most influential Arabs in the world.

Arab women are now emerging even in those charts in which gender doesn't matter and they are “virtually competing” directly with men. Women and men, intellectuals and bankers, political activists and businessmen from over 20 Arab countries were taken into consideration in the Arabian Business world’s most influential Arabs.

Read more at thepeninsulaqatar.com and about the record that 105 women make list of most powerful Arabs at arabianbusiness.com

 The wife of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri praised Muslim women for their role in the Arab Spring uprisings and said the unrest would soon lead to an "Islamic Spring", according to a rare message posted online on Friday.

The letter, signed by Omaima Hassan, singled out women beaten during Egypt's unrest and lauded mothers for bringing up the revolutionaries who went on to topple four heads of state it described as "tyrant criminals".

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the undated message, posted on a website used by Islamist militants.

Read more at asharq-e.com

On 2 June KVINFO became a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) – a network of more than 80 human rights organizations and institutions in Europe and the Mediterranean area. The decision to admit KVINFO as a member was made on the network’s general assembly in Copenhagen, running from 31 May to 3 June. Organisations from 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa are part of the network, including many countries where KVINFO has established partnerships.

Read more about EMHRN here

Lebanese politicians are wrangling over whether a session of National Dialogue will convene later this month, but for women’s rights activists, the event will be an exercise in futility if half of society remains unrepresented.

Read more at dailystar.com.lb

An Interview with Dr. Samar Habib, an academic who – for many Arab queers – has offered a starting point to question past and current narratives that characterize us as estranged and displaced in our embodiment of queer identities.

Read more at sawtalniswa.com

The Lebanese National Committee for Women’s Affairs Thursday launched a “National Strategy for Women” for 2011-21, which lists challenges women in Lebanon face and suggests solutions.

Read more at dailystar.com.lb

Experts are warning that the constant bombardment of homogeneous and sexualized images of women, found throughout every form of mass media – not just advertising – poses a huge danger to Lebanese women and young girls.

Read more at dailystar.com.lb

On 9 May 2012, Manal al-Sharif was awardedthe Havel Prize for Creative Dissent at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway. This came shortly after al-Sharif was honored as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World at a Gala in New York City. Such events have given rise to a pattern: just as numerous pictures and videos of activists attending various conferences and receiving numerous awards surface, waves of criticism pour in. Their motives are viewed with suspicion, worthiness is questioned, and a movement’s progress is reassessed.

Read the full article at jadaliyya.com