"One of the main reasons the Arab world trails behind is the exclusion of women from decision-making circles that determine the fate of society in all areas of life. This exclusion cries out to the heavens.
Arab leadership was always male. We've never seen an Arab queen as ruler, a female president or prime minister, not even a female mayor. A healthy society stands and marches forward on both legs, female and male. The female leg of Arab society has been paralyzed since ancient times, which is why it's not surprising that Arab society limps, and will always require external crutches.
Here's an example of this Arab societal failure. Only last week, tribal and clan chiefs in the Mount Hebron area held an emergency session to protest the Palestinian Authority's ratification of the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW).
The session, which was, obviously, attended by males only, called on the Authority to retract its signature. In a manifesto these leaders pub'ished they called for banning the activities of all women's organizations, which are 'shady," in their words. They also called to forbid them from entering schools and not to rent them office space.
The manifesto also included threats to judges who would rule according to CEDAW guidelines. They were furious at the treaty's setting the age of marriage at 18, arguing that this contravenes the laws of Islam...
If Arab society here and across the region truly wishes to escape the predicament it has been in for centuries, Arab intellectuals and opinion shapers must proudly and courageously bear the torch of gender equality. If they don't, they'll betray their mission. They must make clear to Islamist and patriarchal elements in the Arab world that the principle of gender equality is not a foreign agenda. On the contrary, this is the only agenda that could take Arab society from darkness to light."