Despite mounting efforts toward achieving gender equality, the MENA region continues to rank the lowest worldwide in women’s economic participation and opportunity.

While much media attention recently has focused on the geopolitical fault lines that connect Syria’s violence to wider region-wide trends, the plight of individual women, men, and children displaced within Syria or living in camps beyond its borders shows no sign of ending. As Secretary of State John Kerry has stated, the humanitarian situation in Syria is "an outrage" but the violence only looks set to worsen as opposition groups turn on each other and radical trans-national elements feed off the resulting vacuum of authority and control. This is the task as the international community prepares to reconvene in Switzerland on January 22, writes Baker Institute fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen in the Baker Institute Blog.

Most recent reports on sexual harassment in Egypt draw a dim picture of women’s status not only in that country, but also in most parts of the region. A recent United Nations study revealed that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced some form of sexual harassment in the past year, primarily in the form of physical harassment. A recent public opinion survey showed that 85 percent of Egyptian women surveyed agree sexual harassment is the most urgent problem facing women and girls in transitional Egypt, despite the prevailing political and social instability in the country. Looking closely at these statistics, it is evident that sexual harassment is becoming not only a repugnant social phenomenon or political tool used by the regime to suppress women’s participation in the political and public spheres; it is also progressively becoming a barrier for women to play an active role in society and enjoy equal citizenship rights in their own country. Most importantly, harassment has become an impediment for both economic and social development in the country—a critical issue that requires immediate attention from policymakers, legislators, and society as a whole.

With the Yemeni government in a state of transition, the time is right to propose legislation that would protect young girls from the physical, emotional and economic harms of early marriage.

Gender has come to demarcate battle lines in geopolitical struggles since Sept. 11, 2001, and to occupy a central place in the discourse of international relations in regard to Muslim countries. This article offers a critical analysis of the scholarship on issues that constitute the core of the intellectual discourse on gender in the Middle East.

The lower participation of women in the paid labor force in the Muslim Middle East relative to other world regions raises the question: What is the culprit of gender inequality in the Muslim Middle East? Could it be Islam or is it something else?

Summary of discussions from an October 2006 conference on stem cell research including input from policymakers, scientists and ethicists.