The human rights of women throughout the Middle East and North Africa are systematically denied by each of the countries in the region, despite the diversity of their political systems. Many governments routinely suppress civil society by restricting freedom of the press, expression, and assembly. These restrictions adversely affect both men and women; however, women are subject to a host of additional gender-specific human rights violations. For example, family, penal, and citizenship laws throughout the region relegate women to a subordinate status compared to their male counterparts. This legal discrimination undermines women's full personhood and equal participation in society and puts women at an increased risk for violence.        

Family matters in countries as diverse as Iran, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia are governed by religion-based personal status codes. Many of these laws treat women essentially as legal minors under the eternal guardianship of their male family members. They deny women equal rights with men with respect to marriage, divorce, child custody; and inheritance. Family decision making is thought to be the exclusive domain of men, who enjoy by default the legal status of "head of household." These notions are supported by family courts in the region that often reinforce the primacy of male decision-making power. These courts have rarely appointed women as judges, further denying women authority in family matters.

While husbands can divorce their spouses easily (often instantaneously through oral repudiation), wives' access to divorce is often extremely limited, and they frequently confront near insurmountable legal and financial obstacles. In Lebanon, battered women cannot file for divorce on the basis of abuse without the testimony of an eyewitness. A medical certificate from a doctor documenting physical abuse is simply not good enough. Although women in Egypt can now legally initiate a divorce without cause, they must agree not only to renounce all rights to the couple's finances, but must also re-pay their dowries. Essentially, they have to buy their freedom. In Bahrain, where family law is not codified, judges have complete power to deny women custody of their children for the most arbitrary reasons. Bahraini women who have been courageous enough to expose and challenge these violations in 2003 are currently being sued for slander by eleven family court judges.
    
Though some women's rights activists in the region are working within shari'a (Islamic law) to promote women's human rights, others are calling for a clear separation of religion and government in part because of the ways that a rise in religious fundamentalism throughout the region has resulted in further violations of women's rights. Governments routinely join forces with religious figures in order to curtail women's rights, including their sexual autonomy. Many states criminalize adult, consensual sex outside of marriage. Women in Jordan who are thought to have "dishonored" their family have been beaten, shot, or stabbed to death by their male family members. The Jordanian penal code condones these killings by providing the perpetrators of these crimes with reduced sentencing under the law. In Jordan, judges often inappropriately apply a "fit of fury" defense in "honor" crimes cases, even when the murder was clearly premeditated. In Morocco, women are much more likely to be charged with having violated penal code prohibitions on sexual relations outside of marriage than men. Unmarried pregnant women are particularly at risk of prosecution. The Moroccan penal code also considers the rape of a virgin as an aggravating circumstance of assault. The message is clear: the degree of punishment of the perpetrator is determined by the sexual experience of the victim.

The relationship between women and the state in the Middle East and North Africa is essentially mediated by men. In many countries in the region, women's right to vote, to acquire an identity card or passport, to marry, to work, or to travel is granted only with the consent of a spouse or other male family member. Husbands in Egypt and Bahrain, for example, can file an official complaint at the airport to forbid their wives from leaving the country for any reason. Most countries in the region-with the exception of Iran, Tunisia, Israel, and to a limited extent Egypt-have permitted only fathers to pass citizenship on to their children. Women married to non-nationals are denied this fundamental right.

Women's inferior legal status also acts as a deterrent to their full participation in public life. Societal acceptance and enforcement of traditional and unequal gender roles, combined with the need for male authorization to work or travel, have significantly limited women's participation economic and political life. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), women in the Arab sub-region occupy only 3.5 percent of all seats in parliament. The sub-region was also ranked next to last in terms of women's participation in economic, professional, and political life. Only sub-Saharan Africa has a lower score.   

Women's unequal legal rights increase their vulnerability to violence. In many countries in the region, no specific laws or provisions exist to penalize domestic violence. Many countries have not adopted domestic violence laws, even though domestic violence is a widespread problem. Domestic violence is generally considered to be a private matter outside the state's jurisdiction. Battered women are told to go home if they attempt to file a complaint with the police. Few shelters exist to protect women who fear for their lives. Spousal rape has not been criminalized; husbands have an absolute right to their wives' bodies at all times. Penal codes in several countries in the region also contain provisions that authorize the police and judges to drop charges against a rapist if he agrees to marry his victim.  
  
Women migrants and members of minority groups are especially vulnerable to discrimination and abuse in the region. Non-Muslim women in many countries in the region cannot inherit from their Muslim spouse and are routinely denied custody of children in case of divorce. National labor codes that protect migrant labor also specifically exclude domestic workers, who are predominantly female. Domestic workers in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, for example, cannot leave the country without their employer's permission, may be forced to work for free, and may be held in virtual round-the-clock confinement during their tenure. These women are also at tremendous risk of physical and sexual abuse. Procedural obstacles thwart migrant workers' access to justice. For example, migrant workers in Bahrain who file a complaint against their employer need to remain in the country and cannot change employers without withdrawing their pending case. Employers have also been known to make up fictitious allegations of theft or illicit affairs with another employee in order to cover up the abuse charges.

The exclusion of domestic workers from labor laws in the Middle East and North Africa makes them especially vulnerable to trafficking. These women who migrate voluntarily and legally to seek better economic opportunities in the region may find themselves deceived by employment agencies and coerced to do work that they had not agreed to, putting them in trafficked situations. Many countries in the region have also repeatedly failed to protect the human rights of women and girls who are trafficked from Eastern Europe and Asia to work in their countries' sex industries. While little is done to stop the traffickers, trafficked women in the region risk being penalized for their actions under laws that prohibit prostitution and extra-marital sex.

Violence and insecurity resulting from war has had particularly detrimental effects on women in Iraq. Insurgent groups have targeted female professionals including politicians, civil servants, journalists, and women's rights activists. These groups have also attacked women for what they considered "immoral" or "un-Islamic" behavior, like dancing, socializing with men or not wearing a hijab, the Islamic headscarf. Iraqi women's participation in the country's reconstruction efforts is also routinely undermined. Iraq's new constitution, adopted in October 2005 through a popular referendum, granted Iraqi women the right to transfer citizenship to their children but failed to explicitly guarantee women equal rights within the family. Iraqi women risk losing many of the right afforded to them in the 1959 civil family law, which may be replaced with regressive sectarian laws derived from the most discriminatory interpretations of shari'a law.

While many countries in the region have ratified the most comprehensive convention on the human rights of women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, most have also entered extensive reservations to its provisions due to perceived inconsistencies with shari'a. These reservations have allowed countries to evade their responsibilities under the convention. Persistent and insidious discrimination and violence against women rooted in custom and law remains widespread in the region undermining the very equality guarantees that the convention seeks to promote.

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