Women in the Arab World: Timeline

Timeline of Events in Women's History in Syria

1880: Maryam Nimr Makariyus founds the association Bakurat Suriya (Syrian Dawn).

1888- 1954: Julia Dimashqiya founds Jam'iyyat al-Sayyidat (Ladies' Society) to unite Syrian women, despite differences in religion, through
literary exchanges. She issues the journal al-Mar'a al-jadida (The New Woman) and served as its editor from 1921 to 1928.

1915: Adlah Bihem ai-Jaza'iri establishes the association Yaqazit al-Fatah al-'Arabiya- (Resurgence of the Arab Girl) in Syria.

1928: Twenty-three women's organizations from Lebanon and Syria form al-Ittihad al-Nisa'i al-Suri al-Lubnani (Syrian-Lebanese Women's
Union) under the leadership of Labibah Thabit.

1930: The First Eastern Women's Congress is organized by the General Union of Syrian Women in Damascus (following the triennial congress of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship (lAW) in Berlin in 1929). The primary figure is Nour Hamada. The opening ceremony of the congress takes place in the Great Hall of the Syrian University.

1945: lttihad al-Jam'iyat al-Nisa' iya (Arab Women's Union) is formed.

1967- 68: The state-controlled General Union/Federation of Syrian Women is established.

1994: The National Committee for Women's Affairs in Syria is established.

Vinson, P. (2012). Challenges and opportunities: The women’s movement in Syria. In Golley N. & Arenfeldt P. (Eds.), Mapping arab women’s movements: A century of transformations from within (pp. 65-92). American University in Cairo Press.

Timeline of Women's Activism in Egypt

1900-09: In 1909 Nabawiya Musa is the first woman to sit for secondary school examination (passes with flying colors). Women found the first secular philanthropic association, the Mubarrat Muhammad Ali, to bring health and medical services to poor women and children.

1920-29: Organized feminism emerges; Huda Sha'rawi and Saiza Nabarrawi co-found Egyptian Femenist Union (EFU) الاتحاد النسائي المصري (1923).

1930-39: Zainab Al-Ghazali established Muslim Women's Association (1936).

1940-49: Daughters of the Nile Union founded in 1948 by Doria Shafik.

1980-89: Arab Women's Solidarity (AWSA) begun in 1980 (Nawal El Saadawi). The New Woman magazine (1982).

New Woman Research Center founded by Dr. Aida Seif al-Dawla (1984).

In 1985, a broad coalition of feminists constitute the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the Woman and the Family (Lajnat al-Difa' 'an Huquq al-Mar\a wa-l-Usra and successfully fight for the reinstatement of the Muslim Personal Status Law of 1979 (in Modified form).

1990-99: More pragmatic shift for women activists in response to growing conservatism. AWSA headquarters closed in 1991 and reopened in 1996. Aida Seif al-Dawla co-founds El Nadim Center for the Psychological Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence in Cairo in 1993.

2000-2009: Spontaneous formation of opposition groups (from mothers to professional women) to assault on female journalists by party thugs and plain-clothes police. Thirty female judges appointed to the bench. Egyptian Center for Women's Rights embarks on campaign to stop sexual harassment of women.

Women's Movement in Bahrain

1945-1956 movement: creation of a feminist association akin to those in Egypt and Bilad El-Sham to replace the Bahrain' Women's Society.

1953: the Bahrain Women’s Society was founded,presided over by the British Chancellor’s wife, Lady Belgrave, with the help of relatively well educated upperclasswomen such as “Al-Fadila” Aysha Yatim (secretary), and Ms. Salwa Al-Omran  (member of the Board).

1955: Nahdat Fatat al-Bahrain Society opened in 1955, and became the first women’s organization in the Gulf.

1960: Child and Mothers’ Welfare Society (Jamiyiat Ri’ayat al-Tifl wal-’Umuma), was founded.

1967: Awal Women’s Society (Jam’iyyat A’wal al-Nisa’iyya) (AWS) was founded following the June 1967 debacle, it was not officially registered until 1970.

1970: Al-Rifa’ Cultural and Charitable Society was founded.

1974: Women’s International Association was founded by women belonging to the richer merchant class, the wives of diplomats, managers and foreign businessmen.

1990:

Women's Activism in Kuwait

1940: Education of girls spread

1948: Women writers emerged calling women to participate in public life

1953: A group of young women advocated unveiling, calling their meeting "The Conference on the Veil"

1960: Graduates attempted to create a women's association: The Kuwaiti Women's Society

1963: Foundation of "Women's Cultural Social Society" and "An-Nahda al-Arabiyya al-Nisa'iyya Society"

1971: (15 December) First conference in the Gulf to raise women's real demands

1977: Petition signed by 395 women was submitted to the Crown Prince containing demands including women's full political rights. In January 19, 1982, the National Assembly refused to concede these rights.

1974: The 2 societies tried to form a women's union but it short-lived and was dissolved in 1977 by the government

1990-91: Following the Kuwaiti crisis in 1990/1, and in the absence of the National Assembly, the Kuwaiti Crown Prince issued a royal decree granting women their political rights, in appreciation of their efforts in defending Kuwait during the occupation. The re-elected National Assembly, however, ruled that the decree was illegal, and by a simple majority rejected women’s political rights.

1994: A new union was registered "the Kuwaiti Union of Women's Societies" led by the Crown Prince's wife, Sheikha Latifa, and it included the 2 societies already mentioned, in addition to "Nadi al-Fatat Society". The activities of this union were very limited due to refusal of some societies to join.

Al-Najjar, S. M. (2003). The feminist movement in the Gulf. Al-Raida 20(100), 29-37. Retrieved from http://www.alraidajournal.com/index.php/ALRJ/article/view/441/439

2002: (28 February) The Women's Charitable Society was founded in Jeddah