Abstract
Following the euphoria that swept through the Arab region in the wake of the Arab Spring movements of 2011, the brave people of Bahrain revolted against the Bahraini monarchy but were met with harsh repression. The monarchy successfully portrayed the revolt as a religious conflict pitting the Shiite population against the Sunni power, and appealed to other Sunni monarchies in the Gulf for help in crushing the revolt by force. Whereas in Tunisia women and Tunisian women’s organizations played an important public role in the revolt, thanks to the decades-long presence of women’s organizations in the public domain, Bahraini women were severely restricted by old sociocultural traditions. This chapter discusses how Bahraini women used social media to make up for their limited access to public space; to continue fighting their battles; and to ensure that their voices shouting for reform could still heard loud and clear, despite the regime’s repression and the international media blackout, which rendered the Bahraini revolution largely forgotten and invisible.
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Notes
- 1.
Radsch, C., and Khamis, S., “In Their Own Voice: Technologically Mediated Empowerment and Transformation among Young Arab Women”, Feminist Media Studies 13(5):881–890, 2013.
- 2.
Khamis, S., and Vaughn, K., “Cyberactivism in the Egyptian Revolution: How Civic Engagement and Citizen Journalism Tilted the Balance”, Arab Media and Society, Issue 14, summer 2011. http://www.arabmediasociety.com/index.php?article=769&printarticle
- 3.
Reporters without Borders , Enemies of the Internet 2012. http://surveillance.rsf.org/en/bahrain/
- 4.
Howard, P.N. (2011). The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- 5.
Ghannam, J. (2011). Social media in the Arab world: Leading up to the uprisings of 2011. A Report to the Center for International Media Assistance. Retrieved April 14, 2011, from: http://cima.ned.org/publications/social-media-arab-world-leading-uprisings-2011-0
- 6.
Arab social media report, 2012. From: http://www.arabsocialmediareport.com/Twitter/LineChart.aspx?&PriMenuID=18&CatID=25&mnu=Cat
- 7.
Kinninmont, J., “To What Extent Is Twitter Changing Gulf Societies?”. Chatham house, February 2013. From: http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/189413
- 8.
The enemies of the Internet, Reporters without borders report 2012. Available here: http://surveillance.rsf.org/en/bahrain/
- 9.
The IP Spy Files: How Bahrain’s Government Silences Anonymous Online Dissent, Bahrain watch, 2012 Available here: https://bahrainwatch.org/ipspy/viewreport.php
- 10.
Radsch, C., and Khamis, S., “In their own voice: Technologically mediated empowerment and transformation among young Arab women”, Feminist Media Studies 13(5):881–890, 2013.
- 11.
Khalaf, A., “Double efforts to minimize women’s movement in Bahrain”, Alsaffir Alarabi, 2012. Available in English at: http://bahrainspring.com/index.php/bahrainspring-articles-2/item/143-double-efforts-to-minimize-woman-movement
- 12.
Alwadi, N., “Social Media as an Opportunity to Bahraini Women”, CyberOrient, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, 2014. Available here: http://www.cyberorient.net/article.do?articleId=8815
- 13.
Washington Post, “Bahraini activist ‘Angry Arabiya’ arrested”, 12/15/2011 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/post/bahraini-activist-angry-arabiya-arrested/2011/12/15/gIQA73gKwO_blog.html
- 14.
Karolak, M., “Bahraini women in the 21st century: disputed legacy of the unfinished Revolution”, Journal of International Women’s Studies, 2012. From: http://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=jiws
- 15.
Glosemeyer, I., “Political Parties and Participation: Arabian Peninsula,” in Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, 551–553; M. Seikaly, “Women and Religion in Bahrain: An Emerging Identity,” in Y. Haddad and J. Esposito, eds., Islam, Gender, & Social Change (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 169–189.
- 16.
Bahrain Center for Human rights report, Feb10, 2014, “Family Law in Bahrain”. http://www.bahrainrights.org/sites/default/files/BCHR%20Report%20on%20Family%20Law%20in%20Bahrain.pdf
- 17.
Freedom House report, 2010 “WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA”. https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Bahrain.pdf. This report is a chapter in Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress amid Resistance, ed. Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin (New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), available in paperback, as a CD-ROM, and online at http://www.freedomhouse.org
- 18.
Skype Interview with Afaf Aljamri, member of the Alwefaq political party, May 1, 2015.
- 19.
Alwasat newspaper, August 28, 2015 “Tqui: family law is a priority for our political block” http://www.alwasatnews.com/3643/news/read/697357/1.html
- 20.
Kinninmont, J., “To What Extent Is Twitter Changing Gulf Societies?”. Chatham house, February 2013. From: http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/189413
- 21.
Khamis, S., and Vaughn, K., “Cyberactivism in the Egyptian revolution: How civic engagement and citizen journalism tilted the balance”, Arab Media & Society, issue 13, summer 2011. From: http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=769
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Alwadi, N., Khamis, S. (2018). Voices Shouting for Reform: The Remaining Battles for Bahraini Women. In: Khamis, S., Mili, A. (eds) Arab Women's Activism and Socio-Political Transformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60735-1_3
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