For our fifth Global North-South conversation we were honored to speak with Dr. Amal Malki, an expert on the media representation of Arabs and Muslims. Dr. Malki shared her experiences as an advocate and expert on the role of the media in in public perception, media literacy, and more.
This series aims to enhance discourse between countries in the Global South and those in the Global North on critical issues such as conflict prevention, violent extremism, gender, and human rights. At Transformative Peace, we believe this initiative is essential for developing more effective conflict resolution strategies and building sustainable peace. Our approach prioritizes inclusivity, human rights, and the integration of diverse perspectives. Consequently, this initiative elevates the voices of the Global South within a predominantly Western-centric media environment. Please enjoy our fifth of such conversations with Dr. Amal Malki. For more transformative conversations featuring scholars and experts from the Global South, please click here.
Since the publication of your book “Arab Women in Arab News” in 2012, what kind of
developments, positive or negative, have you observed in the media landscape?
When the book was published back in 2012, it was lauded as the first comprehensive study on the topic. We discovered that Arab women appear in news under a very diverse category of topics, some indicating active roles, some passive roles, but often mixtures of the two. We found women under the broad and active categories of anger and resistance, determination and drive, education, and empowerment. But we also saw women as victims of war, discrimination in the workplace, and forms of misogyny and patriarchy which were sometimes very subtle and sometimes very unsubtle.
Compared to social science studies of the portrayal of Arab women in Arab news conducted during the 1980s and 1990s, Arab women have come a long way as a unified force and a powerful voice in hard news. However, even today, Arab women in hard news reflect the hard social and political challenges that women continue to face worldwide. So, in terms of development, they are a few and sparse across the MENA region. Stories of women empowerment are coming from the Gulf States due to economic and political stability. These states have improved access to healthcare and education to women. However, these stories are incomplete, as they reflect the state narrative that usually dismisses women’s lived experiences and the challenges captured by feminist civil society actors and organizations, besides the restriction of the freedom of expression in some of these states. In some countries an increased political participation has been recorded, but they do not
necessarily signify full and equal political participation, and substantial obstacles remain to be overcome. In other parts, feminist and women organizations have continued their advocacy for legal reforms, for ending discriminatory practices in personal status laws (related to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and child custody), combating violence against women, and promoting gender equality in the workplace, however success stories are a few. Gains, however limited, are overshadowed by the heart-breaking realities of millions of refugees and women still living in conflict zones and wars.
In your opinion, how important is media literacy in combating harmful stereotypes about
women? What initiatives or educational programs do you believe are most effective in
empowering audiences to critically analyze media content?
Media literacy is important now more than ever. As we see media monger’s east and west have extreme editorial agendas, where one piece of news is presented through two extremely different framings- dividing audiences across the world. While many seek news from social media, as an alternative resource, we fall into the trap of misinformation and disinformation. Media schools found themselves in need of serious upgrading, where interdisciplinary approaches are implied to bring together social sciences and humanity. For example, I have launched a program in the college that I founded that proved to be very popular- Digital Humanities and Societies. Students from different backgrounds use digital tools to parse and analyze big data and study disinformation, detecting hate speech as well as sexism, both are usually targeted towards Arabs and Muslims, including women. Other important initiatives are independent online media monitoring units, and feminist media projects taking control over their own representation.
With the rise of social media and digital platforms, how have you seen the representation of women evolve in recent years? What new challenges or opportunities does this present for scholars and activists?
Social media proves to be a critical force for women in the MENA region. While in some parts of MENA it substitutes civil society and provides a safe medium for women to express their activism, in other parts, it complements and amplifies their voices.
This new feminist rhetoric uses a new language to describe Arab women that exists in parallel to and not in any way replacing the old persistent colonialist/orientalist language. A new set of vocabulary emerges describing new trends of feminist activism in the Arab countries. However, both governments and extremists have been fighting women activists, vilifying them and defaming them. Cyber violence has proved to be an extension of the violence that women face in their own countries. While women were able to use social media to represent the multiplicity of their experiences combating distorted orientalist framings and stereotypes, they face a severe backlash from their government on speaking up about the gendered injustices they face.
We have seen how grassroot movements and activism in several part of the MENA utilize social media and other innovative strategies to organize and advocate for change, focusing on issues such as gender-based violence, economic inequality, and political participation. The impact of such movements is sometimes difficult to fully quantify, but their influence in shaping public discourse and awareness is undeniable. The Arab World witnessed a strong form of feminist digital activism- post Arab Spring, one prominent movement came from Saudi women. Manal Al-Sherif launched #Women2Drive in 2011 as a Facebook campaign to urge Saudi women to get into their cars and drive, and many women followed. The campaign went viral and gained international attention. She was detained and jailed by Saudi authorities but later released. She ended up leaving the country. In June 2016, Saudi women launched another campaign on Twitter this time that called for the end of the guardianship system, questioning the religious justification behind it. This Campaign resonated with many feminists and activists across the MENA whose laws had embedded forms of the guardianship law- reducing women to a minor, or a second-class citizen. Again, feminists and activists were penalized, imprisoned, and some were convicted for treason.
When looking at this from a gender studies perspective, it gives us a clear indication that scholarship on women in the MENA cannot any longer ignore the work of civil society and human rights reporting. I have also argued for academic trans-disciplinary, multimodal and collaborative approaches that would enable education to “play a leading role in transforming the education-based gender equality agenda into a social agenda that concerns society as a whole. Higher education can certainly lead the way though knowledge transfer, capacity building, and partnering with the main stake-holders in society.” (Higher Education in the World 7, pp. 416-421) https://www.guninetwork.org/higher-education-in-the-world-7/
Considering recent global events, such as movements for gender equality and social justice, how do you think these influences have altered the landscape of media representation for women? What shifts have you observed in public discourse?
Global solidarity movements have disrupted the whole rhetoric of the public discourse (social media is one). A movement like #metoo did not only transcend geographical boundaries, but it also generated a sense of solidarity among women who have been subject to sexual harassment regardless of their backgrounds, nationalities and religions. I believe that these global campaigns that promoted global values, and others that have been set from the start to combat human rights violations have managed to score several achievements. First, it has mainstreamed Arab and MENA women stories in the global narrative about women. So instead of focusing on what divides us, these narratives focused on what bring women together- their common fights. Second, it broke a stereotype and a taboo simultaneously, that of Arab women being passive, as well as the shame that is misplaced when women exposed sexual harassment. And finally, it paved the way for organic movements and campaigns by the women themselves, using their own experiences in their own words. The public discourse has adopted new vocabulary and phrases that are more neutral and less sexist when speaking about women’s lived realities. My podcast “Women of the Middle East” was set to do exactly that. Extending the impact of the book, I wanted to explore a platform with a wider reach and at the same time bridging the worlds of academia and activism. Through conversing with women from the MENA about topics relevant to us beyond cultural filters and historical stereotypes, we collectively are creating a new narrative about us by us.
As the field of media and gender studies continues to evolve, what emerging trends or
themes do you find most exciting or concerning? What impact do global north-south
dynamics have on that evolution?
We have made encouraging steps in academia across the MENA, as we have seen a growth in the number of programs and research institutes in women and gender studies as an academic discipline. The fourth Arab Social Science report “HUMANITIES IN THE ARAB WORLD IN TIMES OF CONFLICT AND CHANGE” (2023) has highlighted these programs and their contribution to national and international development agendas. The interdisciplinarity of (WGS) programs widens its reach and impact, and I hope that it receives the importance that the field is receiving worldwide. The importance is due to UN and international treaties on women and human rights, that most of Arab countries have ratified, as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals of 2030. Countries are implementing feminist foreign policies and gender equality national agendas. While this isn’t really the case in our part of the world, we see the intersection between gender and work and economy, gender and politics, gender and climate, and much more. All these factors are projected on media and media studies that need to keep up on both a theoretical and application levels. Traditional media in the Arab world seems to still lag, where we still see traditional frameworks of women representation dominant. However, new generations of women experts are crossing the linguistic and disciplinary barriers, speaking the language of media. Independent citizen media outlets are flourishing and women activists and feminist organizations have mastered the tools to be taken as a credible voices to speak on behalf of their nations, let alone women in their communities.
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