Browsing by Author "Medhat Farahat, Asmaa"

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    Master Thesis
    Challenges and Opportunities Granted To Arab Women by Social Media During the Political Upheavals Between 2011 and 2018
    (Kadir Has Üniversitesi, 2020) Medhat Farahat, Asmaa; Baş, Özen; Baş, Özen
    Starting with 2011, the so-called Arab Spring threatened the authoritarian leaders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, enabling protesters to mobilize others to their cause and provide an effective tool for self-expression. The use of social media changed the demographic makeup of social movement participants in many countries. Of particular interest is the mobilization of women both online and offline. Literature have previously examined the impact of the use of social media during Arab Spring generally, with a clear gap on the participation of women in social movements and a clear absence of theoretical base for past findings. This study employs a qualitative approach to understand how the Arab Spring shaped the political use of social media by activist women. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the extent of political engagement of Arab women online, most notably during the Arab Spring upheavals in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Syria. Thirteen Arab activist women were interviewed on their use of social media in efforts to facilitate social change. The interviews aimed to explore the effects of Arab Spring revolution on women's participation in social media and contextualize the opportunities that social media provided to empower Arab women in political participation through the cultural, technical, as well as political affordances. In addition, the threats Arab women faced as a result of engaging in social media before, during, and after the Arab Spring period are investigated. Results indicate that social media encouraged Arab activist women to be involved in the social movements where they demanded their political rights. However, women's active (online and offline) political participation also led to social media bans, violations of their privacy as well as arrests and banishments.