The Women and Memory Forum (WMF) was founded in 1995 by a group of women academics, researchers and activists concerned about the negative representations and perceptions of Arab women in the cultural sphere. Dominant cultural views and images of Arab women constitute a major stumbling block in the course of women’s development and the attainment of their rights.

WMF believes that one of the main obstacles facing Arab women is the scarcity of alternative cultural information and knowledge about the role of women in history and in contemporary society. The group attained formal status in order to advocate and promote the integration of gender as a category of analysis in the study and interpretation of Arab history and the social sciences in general. The long-term objective of WMF’s specialized research is to produce and make available alternative cultural information about Arab women that can be used to empower women and to raise awareness about gender issues.