Lecture: Impact of Daesh Ideology on Women’s Rights in North Africa

Lecture by Professor Fatima Sadiqi (University of Fez, Morocco). This presentation considers youths’ reactions to Daesh ideology as it relates to gender regimes in Morocco and Tunisia, which are at the forefront of women’s rights in the Arab world. Those reactions are tested at the political, civil society, legal, and theological levels. Taken together, those reactions are creating an unprecedented dynamic at the discursive level where gender issues are prominent. Ironically, while Daesh ideology seeks to wipe out the sources of any gender debate that takes into consideration a women’s rights perspective, the latter is re-emerging as a driving force in a region where the roots of gender and women’s issues go deep in history. The presentation has two parts: The first part presents the reactions and the second part presents the ramifications of the readings for gender and feminisms in North Africa.

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