HARD-WON PROGRESS AND A LONG ROAD AHEAD: WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Nevertheless, important steps have been made to improve the status of women over the last fi ve years, and 14 out of 17 countries have recorded some gains.* The member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC or Gulf )—which scored the worst among 17 countries in the 2005 edition— have demonstrated the greatest degree of improvement, shrinking the gap between them and the rest of the region on. [...] Protection from Domestic Abuse Remains Minimal While no part of the world is free from the stain of domestic abuse, the countries of the Middle East are exceptional in their array of laws, prac- tices, and customs that pose major obstacles to the protection of women and the punishment of abusers. [...] Bahrain: The autonomy and personal security of Bahraini women im - proved over the past decade with the adoption of the National Action Charter, the ratifi cation of the new constitution, and, in May 2009, the adoption of a personal status code for Sunnis. [...] However, Article 26 subjects this provision to the approval of the Ministry of Justice.5 In light of the change to the code, the Algerian government recently withdrew its reservation to Article 9(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). [...] Des pite the efforts of associations like the Children of Fadhma n’Soumer to educate women about their rights and inform them of the constraints imposed by the family code, women are generally unaware of the rights they already have.11 Finally, the divergence between rights granted by the constitution and the restrictions imposed by the family code remains a major obstacle for women’s emancipation.