An Evening to Discuss Women's Rights Abuses in the Arab Gulf

On Thursday night, GW's Project Nur, a student-led initiative of the American Islamic Congress, and the Al Waref Institute hosted three women activists to discuss women's rights abuses in the Arab Gulf.
It was a time to express "the voice for the girls who are oppressed in my country," said Maliha Ahmed Alshehab, one of the night's speakers and a Saudi feminist and activist, "To educate what they see as oppressive nature onto women in our countries."
Held in the Marvin Center, young female students made up a majority of the audience along with a sprinkle of those who came, ranging one from George Mason University to the Iraq Embassy.
Each speaker spoke about her particular country's situation with its women population.
Alshehab told of women's harsh reality in Saudi Arabia. Being there is no minimum age for girls to be married in Saudi Arabia, exploitation and abuse of young women is common in these marriages. The relationship between a man and a woman is solely "guardianship." The "guardian system," which Alshehab argues, handicaps Saudi Arabian women, is "the woman needing a male shadow in all stages of her life or losing her personhood."
The societal condition of women in Oman is a "better situation than in Saudi Arabia," but women do not have the freedoms that women have in the United States. There is currently no law dealing with domestic violence, which is difficult when living in a male-dominated society such as those in the Arab Gulf.
The speakers opened up the floor for Q & A after the lecture where discussion of the politics and future of women in the Arab Gulf region took place.

Student Org. Project Nur Hosts Egyptian Human Rights Activist

“It’s not easy to be an activist in the Middle East. Especially if you’re a woman,” Dalia Ziada told the audience Monday night.

The George Washington University chapter of Project Nur, a student-led initiative of the non-governmental organization American Islamic Congress interested in fostering dialogue and understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim students, sponsored a reception honoring Egyptian blogger and human rights activist Dalia Ziada to mark its fresh start as a re-established student organization on campus.

Ziada is the director of the American Islamic Congress’s Cairo branch and advocates the freedom of expression in nonviolent action. Though she lives in a society that restricts total freedom of expression, her blog is her outlet, in which she speaks out against discrimination impacting Muslim women and discusses Middle Eastern politics and Islamic society.

In an e-mail to WRGW News, Amanda Sawit, a Project Nur intern this semester and a member of the executive board of the GW chapter of Project Nur, wrote, "We want people out there to know that this organization is immensely helpful for networking, researching, and learning about Islam and the societies/countries that are grounded in its teachings."

Though there are currently five students in GW's Project Nur, the new student organization is looking to expand. For GW students interested in Middle Eastern studies, politics, foreign policy, communication, Project Nur provides the opportunity for students to apply their interest and studies outside the classroom.

GW's Project Nur will continue to host a variety of events, lectures, films, and other kinds of forums between Muslim and non-Muslim people to promote interfaith dialogue and understanding.