Freedom HouseOs innovative publication WomenOs Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance analyzes the status of women in the region, with a special focus on the gains and setbacks for womenOs rights since the first edition was released in 2005. The study presents a comparative evaluation of conditions for women in 17 countries and one territory: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine (Palestinian Authority and Israeli-Occupied Territories), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The publication identifies the causes and consequences of gender inequality in the Middle East, and provides concrete recommendations for national and international policymakers and implementers. Freedom House is an independent nongovernmental organization that supports democratic change, monitors freedom, and advocates for democracy and human rights. The project has been embraced as a resource not only by international players like the United Nations and the World Bank, but also by regional womenOs rights organizations, individual activists, scholars, and governments worldwide. WomenOs rights in each country are assessed in five key areas: (1) Nondiscrimination and Access to Justice; (2) Autonomy, Security, and Freedom of the Person; (3) Economic Rights and Equal Opportunity; (4) Political Rights and Civic Voice; and (5) Social and Cultural Rights. The methodology is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the study results are presented through a set of numerical scores and analytical narrative reports.

A passionate manifesto decrying misogyny in the Arab world, by an Egyptian American journalist and activist When the Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy published an article in Foreign Policy magazine in 2012 titled "Why Do They Hate Us?" it provoked a firestorm of controversy. The response it generated, with more than four thousand posts on the website, broke all records for the magazine, prompted dozens of follow-up interviews on radio and television, and made it clear that misogyny in the Arab world is an explosive issue, one that engages and often enrages the public. In Headscarves and Hymens, Eltahawy takes her argument further. Drawing on her years as a campaigner and commentator on women's issues in the Middle East, she explains that since the Arab Spring began, women in the Arab world have had two revolutions to undertake: one fought with men against oppressive regimes, and another fought against an entire political and economic system that treats women in countries from Yemen and Saudi Arabia to Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya as second-class citizens. Eltahawy has traveled across the Middle East and North Africa, meeting with women and listening to their stories. Her book is a plea for outrage and action on their behalf, confronting the "toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend." A manifesto motivated by hope and fury in equal measure, Headscarves and Hymens is as illuminating as it is incendiary.

This book is part of a two-volume set that examines prostitution and sex trafficking on a global scale, with each chapter devoted to a particular country in one of seven geo-cultural areas of the world. The 16 chapters in this volume (Volume II) are devoted to examination of the commercial sex industry (CSI) in countries within Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Oceania, while the 18 chapters comprising Volume I focus exclusively on Europe, Latin America, and North America. This volume also includes a "global" section, which includes chapters that are globally relevant — rather than those devoted to a particular country or geographic location. The content of each Volume, as well as each chapter, reflects great diversity — diversity in focus, writing style, and personal position regarding the commercial sex industry. Diversity extends to the contributors, who are comprised of international scholars, service providers, and policy advocates representing a variety of fields and disciplines, with distinct and varied frames of reference and theoretical underpinnings with regard to the commercial sex industry. In addition to addressing aspects of the CSI across the globe, as impacted by geography and culture, authors have also provided a spectrum of implications of their work — implications ranging from continued scholarship and research, to legislative maneuvers and policy change, to suggestions for collaboration across NGOS, fieldworkers, clinicians, and service providers. Together, the 34 expertly-crafted chapters provide a wealth of knowledge from which to more deeply appreciate and contemplate the global commercial sex industry. By uniting contributors from around the world, this book aims to build a relatively common knowledge base on global prostitution and sex trafficking. Viewed from a unified, global perspective, it is hoped that this common understanding will lead to a grounded theory and integrated view with applicable suggestions for international efforts aimed at intervention.

"Despite global progress in understanding the epidemiology of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), knowledge about the epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains limited and subject to much controversy. In the more than 25 years since the discovery of HIV, no scientific study has provided a comprehensive, data-driven synthesis of the spread of HIV/AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in the region. Consequently, the effectiveness of policies, programs, and resources intended to address the spread of HIV/AIDS has been compromised. This report aims to fill the knowledge gap by providing the first-ever comprehensive scientific assessment and data-driven epidemiological synthesis of HIV's spread in MENA. It is based on a literature review and analysis of thousands of largely unrecognized publications, reports, and data sources extracted from scientific literature or collected from sources at the local, national, and regional levels. The resulting collection of data provides a solid foundation on which efforts to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS can be based. 'Characterizing the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa' will be of particular interest to policy makers, researchers, development practitioners, and specialists in public health and epidemiology."

Issues of sexuality in the Middle East and North Africa have served as a lightning rod for international discussions surrounding the treatment of those who identify as LGBTQ+, sexual and reproductive health, and the prevention of sexual violence. While a growing body of scholarship and internal advocacy groups have brought more open dialogue within the MENA region, this volume is the first of its kind to provide critical insights and academic analysis into a broad range of complex and controversial issues dealing with sexuality. Spanning a wide array of countries from Algeria to Yemen, Egypt, Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, this volume offers a comprehensive regional analysis that transcends the limitations of country-specific studies. Three themes guide the volume’s organization: sexual politics, rights, and movements; gender and sexual minorities; and sexual health, identity, and well-being. Drawing on contemporary scholarship and ethnographic fieldwork, the contributors shed light on the ways in which sexuality is a foundational element of national and regional discourses, serves as a political tool for marking difference, and has the possibility to enlighten, restrict, liberate, or oppress the millions of individuals living in the region. This volume is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and anyone interested in the intersection of sexuality, identity, and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa.

A Companion to Gender History surveys the history of womenaround the world, studies their interaction with men in genderedsocieties, and looks at the role of gender in shaping humanbehavior over thousands of years. An extensive survey of the history of women around the world,their interaction with men, and the role of gender in shaping humanbehavior over thousands of years. Discusses family history, the history of the body andsexuality, and cultural history alongside women’s history andgender history. Considers the importance of class, region, ethnicity, race andreligion to the formation of gendered societies. Contains both thematic essays and chronological-geographicessays. Gives due weight to pre-history and the pre-modern era as wellas to the modern era. Written by scholars from across the English-speaking world andscholars for whom English is not their first language.

**Kirkus Best Books of the Year (2013)** If you really want to know a people, start by looking inside their bedrooms. As political change sweeps the streets and squares, the parliaments and presidential palaces of the Arab world, Shereen El Feki has been looking at an upheaval a little closer to home—in the sexual lives of men and women in Egypt and across the region. The result is an informative, insightful, and engaging account of a highly sensitive and still largely secret aspect of Arab society. Sex is entwined in religion, tradition, politics, economics, and culture, so it is the perfect lens through which to examine the complex social landscape of the Arab world. From pregnant virgins to desperate housewives, from fearless activists to religious firebrands, from sex work to same-sex relations, Sex and the Citadel takes a fresh look at the sexual history of the region and brings new voices to the debate over its future. This is no peep show or academic treatise but a highly personal and often humorous account of one woman’s journey to better understand Arab society at its most intimate and, in the process, to better understand her own origins. Rich with five years of groundbreaking research, Sex and the Citadel gives us a unique and timely understanding of everyday lives in a part of the world that is changing before our eyes.