Understanding young feminist activism in the Post Arab Spring Era: A Case Study of youth-led feminist Grassroots Movements in Jordan and Tunisia

For many, the Arab Uprisings of 2011 have become synonymous with the words women and youth; as both were at the forefront of the masses of demonstrators that took to the streets across the region calling for social justice and human rights. During and following the uprisings, young feminist voices have emerged and have employed new modalities of activisms, which are considered to be disruptive to previous forms employed prior to the uprisings including cyber-activism, arts, and rallies. Also, independent and grassroots feminist movements have evolved and matured into organizations, that label themselves as feminist- such as Aswat Nisaa in Tunisia (established 2011) and Takatoat which in Jordan (established in 2020). More than a decade later, this new "wave" remains unstudied despite the growing volume of literature on Arab women's activism and the uprisings. Instead existing literature continues to view them as a continuation of the previous older schools of activism in the region (Khamis and Mili, 2017; Charrad and Stephan, 2020). This project aims to address the gap in literature by examining post-Arab Spring feminism, studying it through the lens of feminist social movement theory. By studying youth-led feminist groups in Jordan and Tunisia, this project asks to what extent are they making a rupture to old notions and concepts of gender equality and women's rights in the region through the meanings they create as they mobilize, advocate, produce knowledge and engage with the minds of the people in their communities? The significance of this project goes beyond empirical contributions to academic literature. It will provide policy and programming recommendations for civil society groups, INGOs, decision makers, practitioners and advocates working on issues of gender equality with youth from the MENA region. Despite modest progress made in recent years, gender inequalities persist across the region manifesting themselves through high female unemployment rates and...