The Arab Spring, which began in 2010 and radiated across North Africa and the Middle East, has been messy, exhilarating, chaotic and often violent. It's also been full of setbacks.


Whether people think the policies of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, or his recent overthrow , were a betrayal of the Arab Spring, many have equated the Arab Spring with a fledgling kind of democracy – one that brought more freedom to think, to act and to protest.



But for half the region's population – namely, the women – that spring has yet to arrive. In Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen, Islamists have been flexing their political muscles and fighting against women's rights. Many of the women who marched alongside men in the streets demanding dignity and freedom find they are losing ground – and even some freedoms they once enjoyed.


CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition spoke to Moushira Khattab, former minister of family and population in Egypt, and Lilia Labidi, former minister of women's affairs in Tunisia's transitional government, about the effect the Arab Spring has had on women’s rights.