The Middle East Hub of the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Research Programme Consortium (RPC) is based at the Social Research Center, located at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Partners are the Birzeit University of Palestine, the Population Council in Cairo, and the Women in Memory Forum in Egypt. While the Middle East Hub works mainly in Egypt and Palestine, it engages wider networks of researchers, activists and practitioners from within the Arab region. Four principles are used to guide the work of the Hub: articulating and integrating activities; mutual capacity building; creating a locally relevant and meaningful literature on women’s empowerment in Arabic and simultaneously developing the ability to critically engage with global debates and policy relating to women’s empowerment; and connecting activities to changing realities on the ground.
Their research projects are:
- Qalet el Rawiyah (so said the story teller)
- Construction and Deconstruction of the Concept of Empowerment in General and that of Women Empowerment in Particular in the Palestinian Context
- Talking Empowerment in Plain Arabic
- Between Feminism and Fundamentalism
- Female preachers in Gaza
- Analysing the Egypt Labour Market Survey
- Cash Transfers for Poor Families in Egypt
- Family Courts in Egypt: An Exit from Marriage on a Pathway to Empowerment?
- Celibacy in Patriarchal Society
Their website hosts article reviews on women’s empowerment-related issues in the Middle East, information on news and events, and links to further information on and contact details of the people that make up the Hub.