In Libya, hope gave way to desperation long ago

Libyan women’s daily lives are now ones of continuous struggle, writes Mustafa Fetouri

Between 2011 and today, Libyan society has become progressively more conservative towards women and gender equality. Suhaib Salem / Reuters

In February last year, Libya woke up to the murder of a well-known activist in Tripoli. Intissar Al Hasaari was driving on a busy road west of the city centre when she was shot dead.

In June 2014, Salwa Bugaighis was murdered at her home in Benghazi, right after she cast her vote for the new House of Representatives. Salwa was Libya’s most prominent female lawyer and a member of the former National Transitional Council.

Violence against women in Libya is widespread yet, except for a few high-profile cases, goes largely unreported.

Since the 2011 protests and the toppling of the regime of Muammar Qaddafi, Libyan women have suffered at the hands of the “thuwar” (rebels) who claimed to have liberated them.

Between 2011 and today, Libyan society has become progressively more conservative towards women and gender equality.

In terms of legislation, the biggest setback has been the annulment of Qaddafi-era legislation virtually banning polygamy.

In 2012, the NTC also adopted an election law allocating only 10 per cent of the seats to women at the national level elections, effectively leaving it up to political parties to decide on the quota at the local level.

This law disadvantaged women since, in a male-dominated society like Libya, women usually have little say at local level if they are not empowered by the law.

In fact, the NTC itself had only two women in its membership – namely the murdered Salwa Bugaighis and Salwa El Deghali.

Before 2011, Libyan women had made steady progress in education and work resulting in women being civilian pilots, judges, military cadets and university professors.

One of the greatest gains for women under the former regime was open access to free education at all levels. The Qaddafi regime had actually made it compulsory for parents to keep their children in school until the age of 15.

That is why nowadays Libyan women are among the best educated in comparison to some other parts of the region. In the country itself, the majority of college students are women. Female students make up 32 per cent of university degree holders, and almost 77 per cent of women graduates follow higher degrees both inside Libyan and abroad.

In post-2011 Libya, women’s participation in civic actions is estimated at 20 per cent, meaning only that figure of overall women take any part in civilian campaigns in the country. Insecurity surely is the main reason behind lack of participation.

After the Nato intervention in 2011, the country plunged into chaos and the subsequent lack of security posed a serious problem particularly for women.

When hope was high, women turned out in force to vote in the 2012 elections. However, this was not the case in June 2014, as security deteriorated and hope gave way to desperation.

Gender equality in the workplace in Libya made steady progress before 2011.

But such progress has all but stalled since the civil war with the emergence of different conservative Islamist groups who have little interest in forwarding gender equality in the country. In places like Sirte, where ISIL is in full control, unveiled women and girls are being penalised and abused.

Overall, Libyan women’s daily lives are now ones of continuous struggle. The collapse of the rule of law in most major cities, including Tripoli, makes it difficult for mothers to be sure about their children.

Affirmative action, backed by legislation, is the only way to empower women and help them keep building on what they had once achieved.

Mustafa Fetouri is an independent Libyan academic and journalist who lives in Belgium