Attitudes Towards Gender Equality and Perception of Democracy in the Arab World

The Arab Spring, A Setback for Gender Equality? Evidence from the Gallup World Poll

“…This appears to be in line with earlier literature suggesting a new anti-Western zeitgeist that spread with the Arab Spring and a rise in Islamist-oriented parties aiming to establish Sharia-based regimes that are likely to regress gender roles and personal freedom rights (Tibi, 2013;Fox et al, 2016;Gouda and Potrafke, 2016;Feldman, 2020). Our work also confirms Kostenko et al (2016) who found that correlation between support for democracy and gender equality is very low in Arab countries.…”

“…For instance, female labor force participation (FLFP) in 2019 was merely 20.2 percent for MENA countries on average, the lowest figure among all world regions and only a slow increase from 17.4 percent in 1990 (ILO, 2020). The low status of women in MENA countries has often been linked to Arab culture, to Islam being a source of legislation as well as to the petrol economy (Ross, 2008;Gouda and Potrafke, 2016;Kostenko et al, 2016).…”

“…Gouda and Potrafke (2016) argue that discrimination against women is more pronounced in countries where Islam is the source of legislation. Moreover, Kostenko et al (2016), using pre-Arab-Spring data, find that correlation between support for democracy and gender equality is surprisingly low in Arab countries. They also find that younger generations are the most patriarchal in their gender attitudes, a phenomenon they refer to as "retrogression of social values in the younger generations".…”

The Effects of Religion and Modernization on Egyptian Women’s IPV Attitudes

“…Some have argued that this modernization process has changed belief systems that allow for both egalitarian citizenship and a comprehensive view of human rights. This hypothesis is upheld by survey data that show high levels of support for democratic values, including women’s rights, within Muslim countries (Kostenko et al, 2015). Thus, evidence shows that, at the individual level, people may hold democratic and gender egalitarian values despite the common belief that Islam is inherently oppressive.…”

“…Some studies suggest that women with lower levels of education and those who live in rural areas are more likely to justify wife beating (Yount, 2005; Yount & Li, 2009). In general, education has been shown to promote women’s equality and gender equal attitudes (Ciftci, 2010; Khurshid, 2015; Kostenko et al, 2015; Sayre & Hendy, 2016; Seguino, 2011). Both urbanization and education have also often been considered markers of development and modernization (Lipset, 1959; Lipset et al, 1993).…”