Pre-Spring regimes enacted some pro-women's rights policies. The regimes strongly opposed Islamist movements and these policies stemmed from the desire to make society more [[secular]].<ref name="Battle for the Arab Spring" /> In [[Egypt]], [[Hosni Mubarak]] gave women the right to sue for [[divorce]] from their husbands and implemented a female-friendly quota system for elections. Observers credited his wife, [[Suzanne Mubarak]], with pushing the reforms.<ref name="Better under Mubarak">{{cite news|last=Ramdani|first=Nabila|title=Egyptian women: 'They were doing better under Mubarak'|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/04/egyptian-women-better-under-mubarak|accessdate=18 March 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=4 June 2012}}</ref> Syria's [[Bashar al-Assad]] made it legal for news outlets to report on [[honor killings]], although judges could still reduce penalties if murder was justified that way.<ref name="Syria Capabilities Approach" /> Libyan ruler [[MuamMarchMuammar Gaddafi]] made it illegal for men to marry additional women without their current wives' consent.<ref name="Ghaziri- Al-Arabiya">{{cite news|last=Ghaziri|first=Sophie|title=Arab Women must fight back|url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/2013/02/23/Arab-Women-must-fight-back.html|accessdate=18 March 2013|newspaper=Al-Arabiya|date=25 February 2013}}</ref> He also discouraged women from wearing the [[hijab]], describing it as an "act of the devil" that forced women to "sit at home." This policy drew criticism for reducing women's freedom to choose their attire, but it also promoted secularism.<ref name="Libya - Qaddafi book">{{cite book|last=Pargetter|first=Alison|title=Libya: The Rise and Fall of Qaddafi|year=2012|publisher=Yale University Press|location=Great Britain|isbn=978-0300139327}}</ref>

*[[Israa Abdel Fattah]]: cyberactivist and blogger; co-founded the [[6 April 6 Youth Movement]], for which she is known as "Facebook girl"<ref name="Baker Inst Cyberactiv" />