Arab Socialism and Women
Socialism and socialist parties claim that they can bring the full emancipation of women. In socialist ideology and in its modernization theory there is a need to emancipate women in order to create social equality.
Arab Socialism is different from the classical Marxism and Soviet socialism, and the term 'socialism' has been used as a regime consolidation in Arab Socialism. Rather than an ideological belief, ‘socialism’ was used to describe policies conducted out of nationalist and modernizing concerns in Arab socialism. However, because of its affiliation to socialist and modernist ideologies, Arab socialism had a modernist and egalitarian perspective on gender issues, at least in rhetoric.
For instance, the Iraqi Ba’ath Party changed Iraq’s policies and rhetoric positively towards women in order to change economic, social, and political conditions in Iraq. By encouraging women to join the public sphere, especially in the educational system and labour force, the Ba’ath party made an impact on the change of relations between men and women in Iraq.
The ideology of Arab socialism can be understood from Saddam Hussein's words: The complete emancipation of women from the ties which held them back in the past, during the ages of despotism and ignorance, is a basic aim of the Party and the Revolution. Women make up one half of society. Our society will remain backward and in chains unless its women are liberated, enlightened and educated…(1981).
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Famous quotes containing the words arab, socialism and/or women:
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)
“Hermann Goering, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Albert Speer, Walther Frank, Julius Streicher and Robert Ley did pass under my inspection and interrogation in 1945 but they only proved that National Socialism was a gangster interlude at a rather low order of mental capacity and with a surprisingly high incidence of alcoholism.”
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“Men greet each other with a sock on the arm, women with a hug, and the hug wears better in the long run.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)