What the Women Say Policy Briefs
ICAN’s “What the Women Say” country-specific and regional briefs are gendered political and security analyses carried out in partnership with local activists and international organizations.
“We Will Survive: Women’s Rights and Civic Activism in Yemen’s Endless War.” Yemen (Winter 2016)
Images of women’s mass participation surprised Western observers and revealed the vibrant force of Yemeni women as influential, yet previously unrecognized, change agents.
Morocco’s Dilemma: Rights and Reform or Closure and Conservatism? (March 2015)
Morocco embodies numerous contradictions and challenges for the national and international human rights community. Since the Moroccan Spring in 2011, women’s rights and civil society activists have been key indicators of the well-being of the State and of society....
Resisting the New Conservatism: Women’s campaigns for rights, peace and participation in Turkey. (Winter 2015)
For nearly a century, Turkey has been a model of a modern secular Islamic nation. As a member of the G-20 and NATO, a candidate for the European Union, and boasting the world’s 16th largest economy, Turkey’s influence in regional and international security and...
Extremism as Mainstream: Implications for Women, Development & Security in the MENA/Asia Region. (Spring 2014)
In 2013, ICAN, in partnership with the MIT Center for International Studies and the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), hosted a two-day roundtable to better understand rising religious extremism from a gendered and grounds-up perspective,...
Reclaiming the Progressive Past: Pakistani women’s struggle against violence & extremism. (Winter 2014)
2013 was another year of contradictions for Pakistan. On May 11, 2013 the General Elections were held successfully. Despite fears of violence, low voter turnout, and lack of transport, millions of people --including women -- came to the polls across the country. This...
From Subjects to Citizens: Women in Post-Revolutionary Libya. (Fall 2013)
In February of 2011, a group of Libyan women, inspired by the wave of peaceful uprisings across Egypt and Tunisia, protested the arrests of their male relatives outside a prison in Benghazi. Their actions inspired a swathe of Libyan society – particularly the...
Elusive Peace, Pervasive Violence: Sri Lankan Women’s Struggle for Security and Justice. (Spring 2013)
Four years ago in May 2009, the Sri Lankan military routed the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE), destroyed its leadership and secured control of Tamil dominated areas in the country’s north. Sri Lanka is lauded as the first country to eradicate terrorism on its...
Picking up the Pieces: Iraqi Women in the Aftermath of War and Occupation. (Winter 2013)
Just over a year ago the US military officially withdrew from Iraq, ending a nine-year occupation. But it has not meant peace for Iraqis. The decade of sanctions, followed by war and occupation devastated the country’s socioeconomic fabric. Despite the billions...
Voices from the Ground: Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis. (Winter 2013)
An Action Brief on Syria In recent months ICAN’s staff have held regular in-person and online consultations with Syrian civil society activists based inside the country or those who have recently left. They are providing relief and development support to refugees and...
Egypt’s Fitful Revolution: Women in the Balance. (Fall 2012)
With Mohammad Morsi’s inauguration as President of Egypt in June 2012, many Egyptians hoped that the country’s fitful political transition would finally be on a smoother path towards institutional reform and democratization. But much remains in flux. From the outset...
Voice and Vision: What the Women Say. MENA/Asia (Fall 2012)
In September 2012 the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) convened the first regional “What the Women Say” MENA/South Asia Forum on Rights, Peace and Security with nearly 50 women representing 12 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia...
Killing them Softly: The Stark Impact of Sanctions on the Lives of Ordinary Iranians. (Summer 2012)
In its ongoing series of MENA region ‘What the Women Say’ briefs, ICAN provides a gendered analysis of the impact of sanctions, echoing the voices and experiences of Iranians, particularly women’s rights activists, regarding the social, economic, political and...
The End of the Beginning: Tunisia’s Revolution and Fighting for the Future. (Spring 2012)
Tunisia marked the first anniversary of its largely peaceful revolution on January 14 2012. It has been a momentous year since spontaneous public uprisings involving women and men, old and young, rural and urban, led to the demise of a dictatorship. In October 2011,...
The Arab Spring & Implications for Women. (December 2011)
As the Arab world rumbles and shakes, women in the region are experiencing the good, the bad and the ugly that comes with instability, transition and crisis. From Tunisia and Egypt to Syria, Libya and Bahrain, women have been present and vocal in the street protest...
What the Women Say: Participation and UNSCR 1325 (Fall 2010)
A Case Study Assessment In 2009, the MIT Center for International Studies and the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) initiated a six‐country field study (Aceh, Colombia, Liberia, Middle East, Sri Lanka and Uganda) to assess whether and how efforts were...