Civil Society and Women Activists in the Middle East Islamic and Secular Organizations in Egypt By Wanda Krause (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2012. 288 pages.)

Abstract

While much of the literature related to women and democratization in the Middle
East neglects the role of women in this process, Wanda Krause persuasively
argues that the grassroots activism of Middle Eastern women plays a vital role
in democratizing the region. Krause contends that this scholarly neglect is a
result of the literature’s (1) prioritizing the state (over civil society) and secularism
(over religious groups), (2) ignoring the feminine (at the expense of the
feminist) and the practical (at the expense of the political), and (3) relegating
women’s concerns, like family issues, to “the private sphere and overlooked
as having any meaning to the public” (p. 49). She further criticizes this literature
for what she considers its orientalist attitude, which often manifests itself as
excessive attention to women’s dress, segregation, polygamy, and female genital
mutilation (FGM) and thus constructs a passive and oppressed image of
Muslim women. To fully understand the role of Middle Eastern women, Krause
urges scholars to focus not just on the government’s formal structures, but also
to pay attention to civil society and investigate how beliefs, values, and everyday
practices both expand it and advance democratic values ...