Overview
Women and girls across the Middle East and North Africa, as elsewhere, face discrimination in the law and across society, including widespread violence.
Huge inequalities in the law leave women and girls treated as second-class citizens, with little to no protection from violence. Conflict, the resurgence of extremist religious groups, and political turmoil in the region are significantly reducing space for constructive civil society engagement with governments.
Existing inequalities across the region have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and in many cases, attempts at passing long-term legal change are stalled as people focus on survival.
Equality Now in the Middle East and North Africa at a glance
Ending impunity for rapists. We supported movements across the region successfully campaigning for the repeal of ‘marry your rapist’ laws in Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine.
Reforming discriminatory family laws. Unafraid of difficult issues, we’re working with activists committed to tackling inequalities in family law, including distribution of marital wealth, child marriage, divorce, and custody.
In it for the long haul. Despite the lack of political will, we continue to campaign for equality in nationality laws across the MENA region.
Achieving Legal Equality
Countries across the region have laws that treat people differently on the basis of sex, including in family and nationality laws
Ending Sexual Exploitation
Online sexual exploitation and abuse is a growing issue for women and girls across the region
Ending Sexual Violence
Despite victories in countries like Morocco and Jordan, ‘marry your rapist’ clauses remain in others, including Iraq and Kuwait, providing impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence
Ending Harmful Practices
Girls remain at risk of child marriage across the region, including in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon
Equality Now works with partners in the region to address inequalities in the law, particularly in family laws, supports activists working to end harmful practices including child marriage and female genital mutilation, as well as campaigning for stronger laws and practices around sexual violence to ensure that women and girls are fully protected from violence and have access to justice when their rights are violated.
Our work
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Key resources
Lebanon – Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Submission – 81st Session, 2022
The legal provisions and practices detailed in this submission highlight the failure of the State to comply with its duty to provide equal protection …
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United Arab Emirates – Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 80th Session 2021
This submission details our concerns with prevailing gender discrimination against Emirati women, who are denied the …
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Honor over Justice: How Kuwait’s Penal Code is failing to protect the human rights of women & girls
This document, produced in partnership with Abolish Article 153, is an analysis of the domestic provisions with regard to international human rights …
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Explore the Full Resource Library
Countries
Equality Now works with partners across the region to hold governments accountable for protecting the rights of women and girls. Explore progress towards gender equality across the region.
Stories
Hear from some of the incredible survivors and activists committed to raising their voices to make equality reality across the Middle East and North Africa, and around the world.

Habiba – Oman
Habiba al Hinai is an Omani women’s rights activist, and Founder and Executive Director of the Omani Association for Human Rights (OAHR). She is based in Germany. I was approached by some people in Germany from Stop FGM Middle East who wanted …
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Rayehe – Iran
Rayehe Mozafarian set up Stop FGM Iran, after writing her thesis on FGM in Iran in 2014, which was published as a book titled ‘Razor and Tradition’. I did my thesis on FGM, which I wrote up in 2014, and since then I have continued to focus on this and have started a …
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Darya – Iran
Whilst there is no nationally representative data on FGM/C prevalence in Iran, various studies surveying women and girls from Western and Southern regions in Iran have found FGM/C prevalence ranging from 16 – 83% within the study samples. Girls are cut at different …
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Asseel – Lebanon
At the age of nine, Asseel* left her native Syria with her family, leaving behind friends and loved ones as the war ravaged her country. Her family began a new life as refugees in Lebanon. I was nine when the war erupted and our home was occupied by the Syrian Army. I …
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Join
None of us can afford to sit back and wait for equality to arrive – we need to act now. Only by working together will we achieve the legal and systemic change needed to address violence and discrimination against women and girls.
Take action across the Middle East and North Africa
Justice over honor: Kuwait should amend its Penal Code to protect women and girls from sexual violence
Kuwait’s Penal Code defines rape as a crime against honor, positioning women and girls as ‘vessels of honor’ rather than recognizing their human right to bodily …
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Lebanon: Give women equal citizenship rights to men under the nationality law
Lebanese nationality laws discriminate against women, preventing them from passing on their nationality to their children and spouses on an equal basis with men. This law has caused Lebanese women …
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Jordan: Give women equal citizenship rights to men
“(My mother is) Jordanian & her nationality is my right.” 28 MARCH 2018 UPDATE: “My children are in deep depression, despair and stress all the time. My 23 –year- old son is planning to immigrate to Canada after he …
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