Feminism Phobia

Few days ago a colleague of mine asked me if I am a feminist. I stood for a while in silence confused, and then left her with her unanswered question. Somehow her question let me fell a shamed for not standing for feminism by answering positively her simple question and at the same time felt nostalgia to the old days when I was proudly declaring of my feminism ideology in spite of everything.

Now I have a fear to be labelled as a feminist, while it is almost clear that I am a feminist, however, my colleague question let me realize that I am on the first phase of having feminism phobia, and the main reason that I was being tamed by the negative reaction of men and women against feminism.

Since I was in college I have been called a man- hater, and when I was in Europe for couple of years, I told a male friend in an intellectual conversation on political thoughts that I am a feminist. He opened his eyes widely and asked if I am a lesbian. Besides, through my activism in Yemen on women’s rights, some men and women pointed out to me as a society destructor and homewrecker. When I quited activism, and had to join an International Organization that has good reputation of working on gender, and luckily I was part of the gender team at the organization. While I was supposed to be more strongly advocating for feminism, I unintentionally detached myself from feminism.

Women, Peace and security Agenda between the Rhetoric Discourse and Masculinity

 The Women, Peace and Security Agenda is an international policy framework developed by the security

council which for the first time recognized the importance of acknowledging and integrating women’s experience into issues of peace and security. The women, peace and security agenda includes the pioneering security council resolution 1325 which was unanimously passed by the united nations security council on 31 October 2000 calling for women participation in peacebuilding and peace negotiations, as well as, calling for protecting women during conflict. Besides, the Security Council passed a subsequent women, peace and security resolutions to support 1325 resolution: 1820 (2008), 1888(2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013) and 2122 (2013).
The origins of 1325 lie in the UN world conferences on women, where the issue of women, conflict and peace received intense debate at the Third World Conferences on women in Nairobi in 1985. Besides the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on women in 1995, and it emphasized on the importance of gender perspective and women’s contributions for sustainable peacebuilding.

Gender Equality in the European Union

Gender equality, is one of the social terms which attracts me as a feminist, and I try to explore it in every field and every nation. Right now it is the time to explore it for the first time in the EU institutions. Before planning to do this article, I had two main questions. Does the European Institution take any measures to improve Gender equality in the level of the institutions and the member states? Is there a bottom up action to promote Gender mainstreaming in the level of EU citizens? Is the Gender Equality principle strong enough to face the current economic crisis in EU? In spite of the efforts of the EU institutions to integrate gender equality in their policies and legislation, as a resident in Warsaw, Poland I observe on the reality that there is still inequality between men and women in the sphere of society especially when it comes to decision-making positions at the work place, so I see the majority in those highly prestigious positions are men.

The Treaty of Amsterdam and later the Lisbon Treaty have entrenched “gender equality as one of the central missions and activities of the Union, and the Treaty on European Union formalized the EU's positive obligation to not only achieve but also to promote gender equality. Article 2 TEU includes equality as one of the values on which the Union is founded. Article 3 TEU provided that gender equality and the combat of discrimination constitute aims of the EU.  

Street sexual harassment: breaking the silence in Yemen

First time published OpenDemocracy

I was nine years old the first time I was subjected to sexual harassment on the streets of Yemen. On the way back to my home in Sana’a, the capital, we caught a public bus. On the bus, while I was dreaming that when I become older and have a job I will buy lots of chocolate and dolls, suddenly I felt something touching me down my back. I was sure that it would be a cockroach or an insect, so I didn’t move or scream. I didn’t want to show my father my fear; I loved to show him my bravery, even when I was scared. I was uncomfortable with the tickle down my back, which continued for approximately ten minutes. When we got off the bus I discovered what the tickling actually was and it made me experience a type of fear that I had never experienced before. The tickling came from the fingers of a man in his thirties who was sitting behind me. Once we got off the bus, I saw his face through the window, sending me kisses and dirty looks. I was too scared and drowned in silence and shock. I couldn’t tell my father; I didn’t tell anyone. I lived in fear for five days, hating every man in the universe except my father.