Training Kits

Arabic, 09 December 1997

Arab Women Speak Out : Profiles of Self Empowerment

(CAWTAR & John Hopkins University)

This publication is the result of a study conducted in five Arab countries : Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon. It highlights model cases of urban and rural women who, despite their illiteracy or semi-illiteracy and despite their limited possibilities, have managed to take strong initiatives so as to improve their economic situation, to assume vital roles and to act as effective agents of social change within their local communities.

This publication profiles thirty (30) resourceful and enterprising women who have successfully contributed to social change within their communities. These women identify the internal and external factors and resources that have enabled them to successfully carry out their diverse activities.

The study aims to foster the exchange of testimonies between women in the Arab countries and to present genuine model roles; to strength to the vital, yet unrecognized, role played by women within their local communi en women’s aspirations to assume roles that would foster their self-confidence; to sensitize policy-makers ties; and to help change the image of Arab women in mass media.