Back when the West's enthusiasm for the Arab Spring hadn't yet been betrayed by pending Islamist takeovers, we published, Where Are the Women of the Arab Spring? Today, if anything, it is worse.

If you want to know why political, social and economic development in most parts of the Middle East has been so stunted for centuries, the answer is hiding in plain sight. Half of the population of the Arab world is hidden away, often beaten or raped when they dare to so much as walk the streets outside of the company of a male relative.

In a sea of humanity on the streets of Cairo, the Al Jazeera journalist and a single interviewed woman in a hijab are the only women to be seen.

Syrian anti-government protesters on the streets before shots are fired. Where are the women?

On the streets of Tunisia, where are the women?

On the streets of Amman, Jordan, the women are also missing.

Where are the women? Behind closed doors. Because the men want it that way. 

Half of the population of the Arab world is utterly subjugated by the other half, unable to do what women elsewhere take for granted.

Perhaps if television journalists start pointing out the obvious every time they film, there will be pressure for change. Until then, this critical problem of the Arab world hides in plain sight.

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist