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This year International Women’s Day comes at a time when the historic uprisings sweeping Arab nations have introduced the world to a new face of Arab woman. In the West, certainly in the United States, Arab women are commonly defined as victims confined to the trappings of Islamic culture and religion, literally and figuratively. Media and commentators are fixated on burqas, hijabs, and the face-covering Niqab. The terror of domestic violence that is experienced by women in all countries, of all religions, races, ethnicities, and income levels is routinely ignored by the international media, unless the perpetrator is an Arab or Muslim man. The specter of fundamentalist misogynist Islam, particularly as it provides a convenient Bogeyman to often justify U.S. war and/or support of dictators also plays a role in the West’s objectification of Arab women. Even prominent, proudly feminist organizations in the West justify the use of bombs and bullets against men in Afghanistan as a necessary evil to liberate the fairer sex. But the long-standing stereotype of the mute, shrouded Arab Muslim woman has been pushed to sidelines in recent weeks by pictures and videos from the ground in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and elsewhere of women protesting side by side with men, and often taking the lead. Arab women of all ages have been revealed to the rest of the world as eloquent speakers on democracy, human rights, civil disobedience, and politics. They are now known as bloggers and journalists, mothers and sisters, students and professionals, rebels and comrades. In fact, the uprisings in the Arab world are seen by many as an opportune moment for women to be the agents of change in their own countries with respect to women’s rights.

GUEST: Ghada Talhami, is emeritus professor in the department of politics at Lake Forest College. Her books include “The Mobilization of Muslim Women in Egypt” and “Palestine in the Egyptian Press.”