The uprisings sweeping the Arab world haven't only toppled dictatorships. Gone, too, are the old stereotypes of Arab women as passive, voiceless victims.
When the stories and images of these thousands of diverse and complex Muslim women hit the airwaves, they not only shattered stereotypes, they also revealed the fallacy of focusing solely on the veil.
The Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Michelle Bachelet, on Friday commended women for their role in the pro-democracy protest movements that have swept across North Africa and the Middle East. She, however, said their rights and leadership potential must continue to be encouraged.
From hunger fasts in Bahrain, to women’s only marches in Yemen, to Asmaa Mahfouz (known as “a woman worth 100 men”), whose anti-Mubarak video helped trigger the revolution against autocratic rule, to the defiant Iman Al-Obeidi in Libya,
From the earliest rumblings of discontent in Tunisia at the turn of the year, it was clear that old images of Arab women as deferential, subservient and generally indoors would have to be revised.
The woman in Tahrir Square was worried. "The men were keen for me to be here when we were demanding that Mubarak should go," she told me when I visited Cairo last month.
The future of women's rights in the Arab Spring countries has been an open worry in recent months. Observers have noted there are no women in the transitional government in Egypt.
The Arab Spring created hope for democracy in which women would at least have a voice. But we're still waiting.
Stubbornness and domination have become characteristics to be admired in the male with varying degrees in the entire Arab world. Girls are encouraged to defer to their brothers, and taught to hide their intelligence and good sense in discussions with their male counterparts.