The Plight of Christian Women in the Middle East

When I wrote my college thesis, “Women in the World of Islam: Hated, Pampered, Oppressed, or Just Complaining?”, I devoted thirty-something pages to the challenges faced by women in Muslim-majority societies. Yet, when I stumbled upon a copy a few weeks ago and reread it, I realized that not once did I mention the plight of non-Muslim women in the region—not the Yazidis, Assyrians, Jews, or even my own community, Coptic Christians.

Christian women in the Middle East bear the brunt of Islamism. Yet, their suffering remains hidden, often deemed an inconvenient truth.

Looking back, I realize that the omission was not just an oversight on my part, but a reinforced willful blindness. At no point during my four years of studying the Middle East at a university in the heart of progressive New York City were the struggles of Christian (or any other minority group, for that matter) women in the region ever discussed. Whether due to cultural taboo, intellectual discomfort, or a desire to avoid contentious discussions in a room full of opinionated 18-year-olds, this issue was neglected in the many Middle East-focused classes I attended. Despite my firsthand experience growing up in Egypt, I failed to confront the glaring omission.

One thing that did come up in the classroom was the term dhimmi. Translating to “protected” in Arabic, the term was popularised during the Ottoman Empire to describe non-Muslims living under Muslim rule, particularly Christians and Jews, who were considered “People of the Book” according to Islamic tradition. In practice, however, the term has evolved to signify a deeply entrenched second-class status, or worse, of non-Muslims in Muslim-majority countries.

Christian women endure not only the oppression associated with being non-Muslim, but the added vulnerability of being women in an honor-based society. As a result, they become prime targets for Islamist groups, whether during orchestrated attacks by Jihadist organizations like ISIS or through individual acts of violence in times of supposed peace. Forced conversions, abductions, and routine violence are part of their grim reality. These acts are rarely isolated incidents rather, they are symptoms of an entrenched ideologies that promote and legitimise such persecution.

In 2014, ISIS's genocidal takeover of Mosul, Iraq, specifically targeted Assyrian Christians alongside Yazidis and other minority groups. The United States State Department estimates that upwards of 60,000 Christians were murdered, raped, or trafficked as sex slaves. While some captives have been freed, Assyrian community sources suggest at least 30 Christian women of both Iraqi and Syrian nationality remain missing after their abduction in 2014 and 2015, likely forced into marriages with ISIS fighters.

While the Islamic State’s atrocities may be the most overt and brutal manifestation of anti-Christian violence in the Middle East, the systematic targeting of Christian women in Egypt rivals even ISIS in its cruelty and scope. Christian women in Egypt face the constant threat of abduction, forced conversion, and coerced marriage. In 2012, the U.S. Helsinki Commission heard a testimony to the effect that there had been 550 abductions and disappearances over a period of five years. In its 2020 report, “Jihad of the Womb,” U.S.-based nonprofit group Coptic Solidarity (CS) estimated there had been 500 cases over the previous decade in which “elements of coercion were used that amount to trafficking.” Despite these alarming statistics, Egyptian authorities frequently dismiss the severity of the situation, often claiming these forced marriages are consensual. The problem persists, with CS estimating that at least 12 Coptic Christian women were kidnapped in just the first half of 2023.

These case studies represent a mere snapshot of a broader pattern of persecution that grows with impunity. Whether through ISIS’s horrific campaigns or faceless kidnappers in Egypt, the message is clear: Islamism is brutal in its pursuit of religious and political hegemony. Religiously, it seeks to erase any opposition to the extremist ideological framework and, politically, it aims to subjugate women, who are often the foundation of familial and communal identity.

The violence faced by Christian women in the Middle East is not merely religious persecution; it is a violent rejection of pluralism itself. The suffering of these women symbolises a broader struggle for dignity and equal citizenship. By targeting these women through abduction, forced conversion, and violence, Islamists are not only dismantling what remains of religious diversity but actively working to erase it.

The fight for the protection of these women is integral to the fight for a stable and prosperous Middle East.

Mariam Wahba

Research Analyst | Foundation for Defense of Democracies