Communicating Gender in the Public Sphere: Women and Information Technologies in the MENA

This paper discusses the public sphere in the Middle East and North Africa from the perspective of women’s uses of information and communication technologies. I argue that the sociopolitical transformations unfolding in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa are not taking place in the absence of women’s contribution and participation. Drawing on examples from different countries, I demonstrate how women are shaping, impacting, and redefining the public sphere by producing alternative discourses and images about womanhood, citizenship, and political participation in their societies. Crusading female journalists, feminist film producers/directors, publishers, and feminist cyber “bloggers” are strategically using old and new media to participate in the production and dissemination of alternative knowledge and the creation of transgressive spaces.