The Unfinished Revolution

1
Female protesters in Sara Square, Iraqi Kurdistan on March 25, 2011. © 2011 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 310430
2
[left to right] Azza Soliman, 45 Director of the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance. She has taken a leading role in advocacy aimed at amending pernicious laws in Egypt and other Arab countries that discriminate against women. Amal Abdel Hadi, 63 Author of several books and an Egyptian physician who has worked extensively on issues related to sexual violence, particularly female genital mutilation in Egypt. She is a board member of the New Woman Foundation, one of the few NGOs in Egypt to break the silence on issues of violence against women. Nawla Darwiche, 62 A women’s rights leader and founding member of the New Woman Foundation. © 2011 Platon for Human Rights Watch 310430
3
Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, 80, is an Egyptian writer, veteran women’s rights advocate, psychiatrist, and author of more than forty fiction and nonfiction books, many of which address the persecution of Arab women. In 1981 she was imprisoned after being charged with “political offenses.” In 1982, she founded the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association. One of the earliest to report on the taboo topic of female genital mutilation, Dr. El Saadawi’s decades-long struggle for women’s rights and against FGM helped pave the way for the adoption of a historic 2008 law that banned the practice in Egypt. © 2011 Platon for Human Rights Watch 310430
4
Sarrah Abdel Rahman, 23, is a social media activist whose popular “sarrahsworld” YouTube commentaries report from Tahrir Square. She aspires to be a television producer/journalist. © 2011 Platon for Human Rights Watch 310430
5
One day when Dashty (right) was 12, her mother told her to expect company. Anticipating friends, Dashty was shocked when she saw the midwife enter the house. After Dashty resisted, her mother beat her as other women held her down. She said she spent twenty days recovering in bed from the traumatic operation. “Since that day, my personality has changed and I’m depressed,” says Dashty, now in her thirties, who lives close to her sister Sara (left), in their village of Meer Ghasem. “I’ve lost my love for this world because of what happened at the hands of people I trusted.” © 2009 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 310430
6
A traditional midwife in Iraqi Kurdistan holds ashes that are sifted and applied to the wound after a girl has undergone female genital mutilation. © 2009 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 310430
7
Iraqi Kurdish girls play soccer before attending a seminar on female genital mutilation held by the Association for Crisis Assistance and Development Cooperation (WADI), a German-Iraqi human rights organization. © 2009 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 310430
8
A 40-year-old man, and an 11-year-old girl sit in her home prior to their wedding in the rural Damarda Village, Ghor province, Afghanistan, on Sept. 11, 2005. When asked how she felt that day, the girl responded, “I do not know this man. What am I supposed to feel?” © 2011 Stephanie Sinclair/VII 310430
9
An 11-year old girl is married to a 23-year-old priest in a traditional Ethiopian Orthodox wedding in a rural area outside the city of Gondar, Ethiopia. © 2011 Stephanie Sinclair/VII 310430
10
Three young brides 11, 12, and 13, are married to three brothers during a combined ceremony in the rural areas outside Hajjah, Yemen. © 2011 Stephanie Sinclair/VII 310430
11
A 27-year-old victim of sexual violence at a support group in Bunia, the capital of Ituri district in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. © Marcus Bleasdale/VII 310430
12
This 35-year-old woman is a victim of sexual violence by government soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. © Marcus Bleasdale/VII 310430
13
Julie, a young woman from Illinois, was raped by a friend of a friend on June 24, 2007, in the city of Bloomington. Her attacker had waited until he got her alone. Julie’s rape kit is one of thousands in Illinois that remain untested. “If the rape kit was tested, I feel like I, in some part, would have internal justice. It’s hard and it’s difficult to think that you could potentially be setting someone free to do it to someone else, and the reason is not testing a kit.” © 2010 Lorena Ros 310430
14
Untested sexual assault kits at the Los Angeles Police Department storage facility. © 2009 Patricia Williams 310430
15
A rape kit photographed at the Santa Monica Rape- UCLA Treatment Center. © 2009 Patricia Williams 310430
16
Bidyawati, sister-in-law of Kiran Yadav, holds Kiran’s newborn son. Kiran died because she did not get the emergency care she needed. Gopalpur, Uttar Pradesh. © 2009 Susan Meiselas/Magnum Photos 310430
17
Relatives mourn the loss of Kiran Yadav, who died after giving birth. Gopalpur, Uttar Pradesh. © 2009 Susan Meiselas/Magnum Photos 310430
18
Komal holds the ID of her mother, Kiran Yadav, who died after childbirth in Gopalpur, Uttar Pradesh. © 2009 Susan Meiselas/Magnum Photos 310430
Women’s rights have progressed significantly in the last two decades, but major challenges remain in order to end global gender discrimination. The Unfinished Revolution: Voices from the Global Fight for Women's Rights tells the story of the struggle to secure basic rights for women and girls – including in the Middle East where the Arab Spring raised high hopes, but where genuine long-term progress in women’s rights remains uncertain. With an introduction by Christiane Amanpour, and published to coincide with International Women's Day, the anthology includes essays by more than 30 writers, activists, policymakers and human rights experts - including Nobel laureates, Shirin Ebadi, and Jody Williams. Contributors propose workable solutions to address ongoing rights violations including human trafficking and harmful traditional practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). This volume is indispensable reading, providing thoughtful analysis from a never-before assembled group of advocates. It shows that the fight for women’s equality is far from over.
Region / Country