Women's rights in the Arab world still lagging behind

"In recent years, our countries have lived through conflicts that have led our governments to make women's rights a secondary issue," Jordanian lawyer Asma Khader said. "Conservative forces in our patriarchal and sometimes tribal societies mean that women themselves, in positions of political, social or religious power, can be the fiercest defenders of the status quo," she said.

"Women who represent the system are more loyal to it than to the female condition," agreed Palestinian writer Sumaya Farhat-Nasser.