Dr. Azza M. Karam
The United Nations Population Fund
Dr Azza Karam serves the Culture mandate at the United Nations Population Fund. A political scientist and economist by training, she has managed international development programs; served as a gender and culture Trainer and Specialist for various international intergovernmental entities; and is a Lecturer on politics and religion in several academic arenas. She has several books and publications to her name. She has worked in the Middle East, western Europe and the United States. More...
"Because if you look at the Arab world, it’s such a hodgepodge of different religions. You have Christian women who are facing exactly the same difficulty as Muslim women. Previous to the creation of the state of Israel, when you had more significant Jewish populations in that part of the world, they were facing the same issues, as Jewish women, that their Christian and Muslim counterparts were facing. So I would be very categorical in saying that the religion, per se, is not the issue or the problem. And it’s certainly, to me, very clear that it is the way that their religion has been used and adapted by certain already long existing patriarchal elements and tribal elements. That is where our problem is in the Arab world."
