Arab women losing hand over fist

WOMEN were to be the big winners in the Arab Spring — but across the countries that overthrew dictatorships, women are battling to keep what few rights they won.

In Egypt and Tunisia there is support for the mutilation of all young girls’ genitals — a practice that was never common in Tunisia and was outlawed in Egypt.

Some groups, including women, in Tunisia which started the spring with its Jasmine Revolution, want to abandon women’s right to equality with men, and replace it with “complementarity”.