U.S.: Arab Women Still Mistreated

Despite great revolutions reversing decades of oppression and dictatorship, the U.S. State Department said the position of women in many Arab Spring countries is tenuous at best. "No country can get ahead when it leaves half of its people behind," Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee Wednesday, during a hearing to look into gender equality after the Arab Spring revolts. Recently, in Tunisia’s first truly open election, women won close to a quarter of the seats in Parliament. But Egypt’s ruling military council has not appointed any female governors, and only one female member serve in the cabinet. Many women in Libya cannot freely worship and are being threatened with murder.