Lack of awareness of and commitment to internationally and nationally recognized women's rights
Since the majority of the population in the Near East region is Moslem, a woman's status in society and the legal instruments available to her are subject, more often than not, to a combination of Islamic and civil law. Islamic law, or Shar'ia, gives women explicit economic rights such as ownership of land, livestock and other property, either through purchase or through inheritance. Moslem women have the full right to be involved in economic transactions such as trading and commerce.
Civil law in most countries of the region stipulates that all citizens, irrespective of sex, are treated equally before the law. A number of important laws have been passed in some countries specifically to increase the rights of women and improve their access to education, employment and health, and provide them with legal instruments to obtain land, credit and other productive inputs. However, in spite of these laws, and the fact that there are no major legal handicaps that prevent women from obtaining productive inputs, women continue to have limited access to productive resources and services due mainly to conservative traditions and practices. This is more acute in rural than in urban areas, where stronger and more conservative traditional cultures dominate, and where the ability to enforce the law is more difficult. Consequently, women's access to these inputs remains extremely limited.
Although there are wide variations among the countries of the region, compared to other regions in the world the Near East continues to be among the most conservative regarding women's rights. According to FAO (1995), 16 countries in the region have yet to sign or ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Only three countries ratified the Convention (Cyprus, Malta and Yemen), while Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Turkey ratified CEDAW with reservations. Jordan and Afghanistan signed it without ratification.
Table 12 provides a summary of legal actions taken in some countries in support of rural women to improve their access to land, livestock, credit, employment and membership in rural organizations.
Table 12: Legal Actions in Support of Women in Selected Countries
Country |
Legal Actions |
Cyprus |
Equal pay for equal work (1989) |
Iran |
Civil law dictates gender equality in access to land and livestock ownership, employment, social security benefits, and credit and loans. |
Iraq |
-Law no. 117 (1970): women have the right to economic independence and the right to obtain free land. -Law no. 35 (1983): women granted access to long-term land rental at low rates. -RCR no. 639 (1986): women granted the right to obtain real-estate credit bank loans. -RCR no. 251 (1986): women granted the right to obtain land free of charge and to receive credit for establishing childcare centres. |
Lebanon |
-1959: Equality in inheritance. -1993: Right to testify regarding real estate records. |
Morocco |
Various legal actions to encourage property ownership, participation in development organizations, and equality in pay. |
Pakistan |
-Law passed in 1983 gives women the right to secure loans. -Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan Ordinance of 1961 provides special programmes for women to secure loans. -First Women's Bank, established in 1989, addresses the credit needs of women. |
Sudan |
Constitution gives equal rights to both genders in access to education, employment, ownership of assets, equal pay and access to production resources. |
Syria |
Law no. 31 (1980): allows women to keep possession of land which they inherit or purchase through land reform. |
Turkey |
Civil law protects women's rights in property ownership and inheritance. |
Source: Compiled From Country Papers.
In addition to legislation, a small number of activities in some countries were carried out to increase the public's awareness of women's roles in agriculture and their legal rights as producers and equal members of society. In Lebanon, for instance, a publication by the Lebanese Association for Human Rights in 1994, entitled "Your Rights at Work", was distributed to the urban and rural public as part of a media campaign to promote the rights of women. Within this context, centres will be established in the rural areas to deal with legal complaints brought forth by women farmers. In the Sudan, a number of national fore, workshops and conferences were also organized for this purpose.
In 1984, in Cyprus, a World Food Day was dedicated to rural women to publicize their important contribution to food production. Furthermore, the Permanent Central Agency set up a Special Committee on Rural Women in cooperation with other agencies and NGOs to discuss issues on women's rights. In the rural areas, the work of this committee included the organization of a seminar and a number of meetings with rural women and women's cooperatives. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the rights of women in agriculture were the subject of a number of lectures, radio and television programmes. Cross-country trips to meet with rural women were sponsored by the Women's Affairs Office. Women's rights were also discussed in school curricula and the Literacy Campaign's teaching programme. Finally, special training courses were organized for rural welfare employees to acquaint them with women's rights.
