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Machreq/Maghreb
Gender Linking
& Information Project
March 2001
Regional Monthly Update
Once again, the world celebrates International Women's Day (IWD) and the struggle of women around the world, as individuals and in groups, in a flurry of activities and celebrations. IWD is certainly an occasion to salute women's struggles and achievements and to remind ourselves that though there have been great strides made in some aspects of women's lives, women as a whole remain more vulnerable and still enjoy fewer rights, and lesser access and control over resources and benefits.
On the occasion of International Women's Day, the Machreq/Maghreb Gender Linking & Information Project launched its new website
(www.macmag-glip.org and
www.woman-machreq-maghreb.com) which was conceived as an information, exchange, networking and learning tools for activists, development practitioners and other actors involved in women, gender and development work. Two new tools for capacity building, training and mainstreaming were also launched, namely the Arabic versions of the Oxfam "Guide to Gender Analysis Frameworks" and WIDE's "Women in the Market: A Manual for Popular Economic Education".
You can now subscribe to MACMAG GLIP Regional Update in English through our website
(www.macmag-glip.org and/or
www.women-machreq-maghreb.org). This will also be available shortly in both Arabic and French.
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Finally, and as we analyse the flow of responses to our readership survey, we will be communicating to you its main findings as well as the changes which will be introduced to this publication to incorporate your views and needs.
In solidarity,
MACMAG GLIP Team
Pan-Arab
The Aisha network has launched its campaign in solidarity with the women of Palestine and Iraq. The campaign aims at highlighting the plight, situation and conditions of the Iraqi and Palestinian peoples and mobilising the public in the Arab world. The Campaign will also be addressing the United Nations, the League of Arab States as well as Arab governments in order to put pressure on the Israeli government and other governments in the North to pool efforts in support of the affected civilian populations.
(for contact and further information: aisha@palnet.com)
On the occasion of International Women's Day, the Machreq/Maghreb Gender Linking and Information Project has launched its trilingual website as well as 2 new Arabic publications on gender and development.
(for contact and further information: info@macmag-glip.org)
Egypt / Machreq
The issue of the right to divorce was very much present during the recent elections of the Coptic Church Council in Egypt. The head of the Coptic church in, Father Chenuda, relentlessly maintains a rigid position against this issue in spite of the increasing demand of Christian Egyptians to the right to break off the marriage bond. The Religious Council of Orthodox Copts is an elected institution in charge of running the Personal Status affairs of the Coptic community. It is re-known that a state of latent animosity prevails over the relationship between the Council and the Coptic Church, as the latter saw in its creation an attempt by the seculars to divest it of its authority over its parishioners.
The Personal Status Code remains at the root of social problems in Egypt. In the absence of clear civil laws governing marriage, divorce and custody, social problems are degenerating into uncontrollable situations, sometimes even into a political and security problem. Cairo was the scene of such a crisis recently, when an Egyptian held four German tourists hostage because his estranged German wife took off with their two boys to live in Germany, leaving him with his daughter!
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