Reviewing the fourth Arab Human Development Report, Hoda Badran* notes that much remains to be done to enhance the role of women in the region A few weeks ago the fourth Arab Human Development Report was issued, entitled "Towards the Rise of Women in the Arab Region". The United Nations Development Programme, the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organisations and the Arab Fund For Economic and Social Development jointly published the report. The first report in the series, published in 2002, identified three critical problems affecting human development in the Arab region: knowledge acquisition, freedom and good governance and women's empowerment. Subsequent reports were aimed at discussing these problems in depth and formulating a strategic vision for overcoming them. The most recent report addressing the empowerment of women is divided into two parts and an executive summary. The first part discusses human development changes initiated by governments and civil society since the launching of the previous report, and how these initiatives affected the empowerment of women. It questions the seriousness of the reform process embraced by Arab countries that continue to mask the repression of freedoms and violations of human rights. It notes that elections that took place in some Arab countries recently were flawed. It also points to an unfavourable international and regional context arising from several factors, including the continued occupation of Palestine and Iraq, the passing of the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act by the United States in 2004, and the stereotyping of the Arab region and Islam as breeding grounds for terrorism. In assessing progress towards overcoming deficits in human development, the report states that although during the study period restrictions on public freedoms increased, and oppressive systems in Arab countries were perpetuated, some positive steps towards widening margins of freedom were taken. Such steps included Egyptian and Jordanian human rights reports, Bahrain's decree to teach human rights in schools, the United Arab Emirate's new human rights association, Morocco's proposals for reform and Algeria's similar initiatives. The first part of the report ends by citing some positive developments in the area of women's empowerment in a number of Arab countries. However, such developments were listed separately without linking them to other changes in human development in each country, or in the region as a whole. As an example, the report does not mention what happened to the Iraqi Women's Union as a result of the occupation. Absent is a dynamic analysis of how general changes in human development trends affected women's empowerment during the study period. The second part of the report starts with core concepts and definitions. It presents four organising principles underwriting the rise of women; namely, that all Arab women should enjoy: complete human rights equality with men, complete equality of opportunity, complete citizenship rights, and acknowledgement and respect for differences between the sexes. It identifies certain problematic issues, such as society's resentment of external forces calling for the liberation of women, despotic authority in favour of women's rights, and the undervaluation of women's economic activity. It ignores, however, other important problematic issues, such as resentment by society of the focus on women's rights in countries where men are also deprived of rights. Resentment also arises because the percentage of women entering the labour market has been increasing more than that of men, despite remaining gaps between the sexes. Another source of resentment arises from the conflict between the concept of male superiority -- stemming from the perception of men as traditional providers for the family -- and the reality of increasing numbers of female-headed households. The second part of the report also contains a situational analysis of the state of Arab women, including their level of general wellbeing and their acquisition of human capacities. The report states that women, with great variation between Arab countries, suffer high levels of health risk related to maternity but also HIV infection and AIDS. In education, the report notes that despite the increase in school enrolments, women are still not equal to men in terms of opportunities for acquiring knowledge. In the economy, Arab women's participation is still low due to a prevailing male culture, the scarcity of jobs, wage discrimination, and the demands of other roles and responsibilities assigned to women. In the political sphere, Arab women are underrepresented in parliament. The report indicates that Arab women suffer from human poverty, which excludes them from legislation, administrative and organisational jobs. Attention is also drawn to certain groups of women who are at risk of encountering violence more than others. The fourth Arab Human Development Report also discusses the societal context of the state of women, and social and legal structures. It includes a discussion of culture, focusing on sources of influence such as religious heritage, popular culture, intellectual and artistic trends and the media. It rightly questions the ability of Arab women working in the media to positively influence the image of women in society. On social structures, the report focuses on the family, where patriarchal authority over wife and children governs relations. On the interaction between cultural, social, economic and political factors influencing the situation of Arab women, the report states that Islam emphasises respect for both sexes and their rights and does not conflict with human development, though some interpretations prescribe an inferior status for women. According to the report, Islam also does not contradict the UN Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which has been ratified by around 17 Arab countries, though some with reservations. Relative to public political life, the report states that while Arab women made some gains in the political arena, generally speaking men fill important decision-making positions. Women are marginalised in political parties, where they have no decisive voice in party political affairs. A quota for women is advocated as a tool to improve women's political status and participation. The establishment of mechanisms to empower women is included among the key accomplishments achieved in Arab countries. However, the report erroneously notes that Jordan was the first to establish a national commission for women. Egypt was the first to do so since it established a National Commission for Women as early as 1975, followed in 2000 by the National Council for Women. It should also be noted that a comparative study to evaluate these mechanisms was recently undertaken and it would have been useful to include its results in the human development report. The report ends with a strategic vision with "two wings" for the rise of women. The first wing envisages certain reforms that bring national legislation and institutions in line with CEDAW, including initiatives to address poverty, health, education, the cultural dimension, the media, child rearing, etc. The second wing is a societal movement for women that starts at the country level and culminates in an Arab movement that links country-specific initiatives. Finally, certain questions could be raised on the scope and methodology used in the field study of the report. For example, why are three countries from the Mashrek (east) of the Arab region included while no country from the Gulf area is? Can 1000 responses from a large country like Egypt stand as a representative sample? Why was no correlation made between the respondents' characteristics and their responses? In conclusion, notwithstanding these reservations, the report represents a tool to be used for discussion, as noted by its authors. * The writer is Chair of the Alliance for Arab Women
