This document summarizes a study on young Arab women journalists and their use of social media for activism during the Arab Spring. It finds that social media allowed women to mobilize support, document human rights abuses, and raise awareness of women's issues. However, the future progress of women's rights depends on stability in their countries and overcoming challenges like sexual harassment, political Islam, and prioritizing other issues over women's concerns. While social media helped activism, real-world change requires continued efforts by women themselves.

1. Sahar Khamis (Ph.D.)
Department of Communication
University of Maryland, College Park

2. Characteristics of the Arab Spring
 Grassroots, popular movement
 Peaceful
 Across the board
 Leaderless
 Significant role played by youth
 Significant role played by women
 Social media acted as catalysts for change
 Different outcomes in various countries

4. Women’s Activism in the Arab Spring
 Women played a visible role in the Arab spring
 Many took part in “non-stereotypical” gender
roles, i.e., not just nursing, nurturing or supporting
others, but rather being in the front lines, risking their
own lives, and facing the risk of injury, arrest, or event
death.
 The selection of Tawakul Karman, who came to be
known as the “mother of the revolution” in Yemen, as
the first Arab woman ever to receive the Nobel prize
signified international recognition for women’s role.

6. About this Study…..
 This is a qualitative study which relies on in-depth
personal interviews with a group of young Arab
women journalists from Arab spring
countries, namely: Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and
Bahrain.
 All the interviewed women were in their 20s or 30s.
 They all received some Western education.
 They all had some overseas experience.
 They all described themselves as journalists/activists
 They all saw themselves as “agents of change”

7. Redefining
Activism, Empowerment, and
Resistance
 All the interviewees endorsed a form of bottom-
up, horizontal, grassroots activism, which engages the
widest possible segment of society
 They denounced government-manufactured
activism, which results in “tokenism” or “cosmetic
feminism”
 They saw empowerment as an
indigenous, autonomous effort on the part of women
themselves to enact change with their own hands and
to speak in their own voice
 They conceived a parallel revolution which involves
resistance in the “socio-political” domain

8. The Role of “Cyberfeminism”
 The term “cyberfeminism” refers to a process whereby
women deploy new forms of communication, mainly
online communication, to advocate for their own
rights, causes, and demands, and to fight various
forms of discrimination, injustice, or repression
 It is considered the sister term for the more general
phenomenon of “cyberactivism”, which refers to the
use of online tools to advance a cause which is difficult
to advance offline
 They all hailed the role of new media in serving the
needs of women and helping their causes

9. Three Main Functions
 Mobilization: Rallying support for certain causes
which are important for women, collecting the needed
funds, and securing the needed resources to help
them.(For example: helping refugees and rape victims)
 Documentation: Using their cameras, cell
phones, and even pens and papers, to show the whole
world incidents of brutality, humiliation, and
harassment against women
 Education: Raising awareness about women’s issues
and discussing them through “positive media”

10. Perceived Opportunities
 All the interviewees believed that women have a lot of
opportunities to fight for their causes, spread their
messages, and make their voices heard.
 They saw social media as providing women with the
needed “window” to see the outside world, and to be
seen by the outside world, as well as the needed tools
to network, organize, and mobilize.
 They believed that the
affordability, accessibility, interactivity, and immediacy
of these tools made them especially important in
enacting socio-political change

11. Authoritarian regimes controlled the
media
… but protesters found ways to spread
information and calls to action
… using social media.

12. New media accelerate the spread of
information to a wide audience…
… to raise awareness of corruption and
repression
… to mobilize and coordinate resistance
… to provide platforms for brainstorming
… to keep up pressure AFTER the
revolutions

13. Perceived Opportunities
 They saw the rise of new young Arab women
activists, who are combining online and offline
activism to fight for political rights, as well as social
rights, to be particularly important and useful for
women, as it increases the salience and visibility of
women’s issues and helps to secure support for them.
 Many of these young women activists became “public
opinion leaders”, who are setting good role models and
positive examples, not just for other women, but for all
citizens, men and women alike.

14. Nawara Negm: a prominent blogger
who used her blog and Twitter
foractivism

15. Asmaa’ Mahfouz: In January 2011, her
Facebook video was posted to YouTube
LINK TO
VERSION WITH
SUBTITLES

16. Perceived Opportunities
 They saw the increase in youth activism as especially
important and relevant when it comes to supporting
women’s issues, since both youth and women were
perceived to be two sides of the same coin of activism

17. Young people:
… are the fastest growing segment of the population
where reform is needed.
… are 70% of the population in the Arab world.
… can be agents of change with their open-
mindedness, desire for reform, creativity, energy, and
determination.
… are technologically-savvy and comfortable with
new media tools.

18. Wael Ghonim & Abdul Rahman
Mansour created the Facebook page
“We Are All Khaled Said”

20. Perceived Threats
 From solidarity to fragmentation
 Creating an “unsafe public space” for women: sexual
harassment, violence, virginity testing, and rape
 The rise of political Islam
 The reactionary, patriarchal culture
 Educational, economic, and infrastructural constraints
 The overshadowing and marginalization of women’s
issues: “Thank you ladies, you can now go back to the
kitchen!”

21. The Uncertainties Ahead
 The future of women’s status, and the gains they can
actually secure, are very much related to the future of
their respective countries, many of which are in
flux, without any clear roadmap.
 This is applicable in countries where the struggle for
freedom is still ongoing, such as Bahrain and Syria, but
is also applicable in transitioning countries, such as
Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.

22. A Final Word……
 In looking ahead, we have to bear in mind that it
would be wise to adopt a realistic approach in looking
at the future of women’s issues, in the context of socio-
political transformation, which acknowledges their
gains and contributions, but also takes into account
the challenges and threats which are confronting them
 Likewise, it is wise to adopt an approach of
“cyberrealism”, which avoids the two undesirable bi-
polar extremes of “cyberpessimism” and
“cyberoptimism”.

23. Limitations of Social Media
While they may aid socio-political change as
“catalysts”…
… they are not “magical” tools and cannot bring
change all by themselves.
It is the people, in this case women
themselves, who can create actual change in the
real world.