Arab Revolutions and the Role of Women By Tahzeema Kabir (The author is a member of Kashmir based Islamic organisation

Banat u Zahra and can be mailed at tahzeema@gmail.com) Resistance to oppression till the last breath is the lesson Muslim women take from Sumaya ra - the First martyr of Islam. Resistance to unjust official declarations is the lesson they take from the woman who dares the caliph Umar ra on an issue that violates an Islamic Principle. Resistance to violations of their rights has precedents in their predecessors like Umm Sulaim, the wife of Abi Talha, who carried a dagger to defend herself against the enemies. So it makes no sense after these glaring examples in the history of Islam that Muslim women could remain passive against oppression and rights violations by Hosni Mubarak, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Qaddafi and oppressors like them. It was natural for them to react to oppression in the light of their history because they were obliged by fundamental Quranic principles of promoting good and forbidding bad. The Arab revolutions that shook the world proved that Muslim women are not passive and voiceless victims. Instead it proved them to be the Muslims, the mothers, the soldiers, the protestors, the journalists, the volunteers, the citizens and the leaders. They were seen marching in Tunisia, shouting slogans in Behrain and Yemen, braving tear gas in Eygpt and blogging strategies in cyberspace. Women played their tremendous role in the struggle for political and economic equality that has so enflamed the region. Women in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya played a frontline role in bringing down entrenched dictatorships. On January 18, 2011, Asmaa Mahfouz - a 26-year-old Egyptian woman posted a video on Facebook calling for a protest in Cairo for people to demand freedom, justice, honour and human dignity. Her impassioned plea, in which she declared that she would stand alone against the Mubarak regime if necessary, led to thousands of people pouring into Tahrir Sq. she got the titles The Girl Who Crushed Mubarak and A Woman worth 100 Men, for her unshakable faith in toppling the dictatorship. Mona Seif, an Egyptian cancer research lab worker, is more widely known as a blogger and human rights activist captured the worlds attention with her social media coverage of events in Cairo on January 25th and during the subsequent police crackdown generating massive support from international community. Tawakel Karman an Islamic activist and founder of Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) is the most well known women in the Arab world today. She is a 33-year-old journalist, politician, human rights activist and mother whose struggle to promote freedom of opinion, expression and democratic rights in her native Yemen fetched her 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. She publicly protested against censorship, alienated youth, unemployment, land evictions, dictatorship and oppression. She was imprisoned but that could not break her. She told her people, "This revolution is inevitable, the people have endured dictatorship,

corruption, poverty and unemployment for years and now the whole thing is exploding. She continues with her struggle for womens rights with a massive support from the suppressed Arab Muslims. Asma Shehata, a mass communications graduate and a member of Muslim sisters which is a part of the Egypts oldest Islamist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood feels delighted while explaining their role in the revolution while saying, We, the girls, spoke to the media, arranged protests, slept in Tahrir Square, and some of us got detained. So we went through everything our brothers had gone through. Zainab al-Khawaja - a Bahraini political activist who fought against the al-Khalifa government suffered greatly at the hands of the regime. In 2011 alone, her father, husband, brother-in-law and uncle were all imprisoned by the regime and Zainab herself went on a hunger strike to call attention to their plight and that of their fellow political prisoners Zainab reached the world through social media campaigning as the Angry Arabiya. These are a few of the thousands of women who have joined the growing movement against authoritarianism and stagnation in the Middle East. The dictatorships are dead and public has resumed the power. In such circumstances now, women are going to be the part of the ruling regimes in their respective countries. Admitting their essence, Freedom and Justice Partys (FJP) newly elected MP in Daqahleya Seham Al-Gamal says Women are part of the people; therefore, when she is elected by the people she is elected by men and women, young and old. Women represent the community, its aims and its demands. In parliament laws will be voted by all parliamentarians, men and women alike. Whosoever doubts the women's ability to perform in parliament questions the people's ability, who chose this women to represent them. It also questions the ability of women to succeed in parliament. Egyptian women are not less efficient than their counterparts in the Muslim world and the West. Arab women played an immense role in bringing down the tyrants and now they expect justice from popular representatives. Womens role has been magnificent and they continue to struggle for the establishment of the Just society.