Gender, Politics and the State: What Do Middle Eastern Women Want?

Abstract

The essays that follow are drawn from invited presentations of the Conference Group on the Middle East, which meets annually in conjunction with the American Political Science Association. The essays published here were presented in San Francisco, August 29‐September 1, 1996, on one of three panels dealing with gender, politics and the state. Thanks to the continuing generosity of the Ford Foundation, five scholars from the Middle East were able to participate. The contributors would like to thank Farhad Kazemi, Deborah Gerner and Jean Lecafor their excellent comments at the panels. Louis J. Cantori, who has shepherded the Conference Group since its creation by a group of University of Chicago graduates more than a decade ago, deserves special thanks for his tireless commitment.

Rethinking development and the feminist versus Islamist dichotomy

“…This means they can reduce the distance between decision makers and beneficiaries (Brodhead 1987;Drabek 1987;Mernissi 1997). According to this view, NGOs have been instrumental in encouraging the political participation and empowerment of beneficiaries, and they have accorded an active role to women in the development process (Norton et al 1997;Pietila & Vickers 1996;World Bank 1996).…”

Equal Citizenship in the Arab Countries: Towards the Achievement of SDG 5

“…States are key actors in defining citizens' rights and responsibilities and in fostering citizens' participation in the civic and political lives of their countries. In the Middle East, Norton et al (1997) contend that there is a relationship of dependency between the political legitimacy of a state and the ways gender roles are interpreted in, and/or imposed upon, society. This dynamic relationship has entailed the formation of gendered models of good citizenship that were constructed around views of men as "defendants of the nation" and women as "markers of the nation," meaning "guardians of the tradition" and, at the same time, "symbols of progress" (Joseph 1996a).…”

Making Gender Ma(R)King Place: Youthful British Pakistani Muslim Women's Narratives of Urban Space

“…The focus on the presence of Muslim masculinities in the public realm has not only shifted attention away from feminine lives but reconstructed them as merely a side show to the main attraction. The visibility of Muslim masculinities in European public realms reaffirms the gendered public/private spatial dichotomy that is central to the Muslim social order, which locates women firmly within the secluded private world (see, for example, Norton et al, 1997). (1) Feminist scholars have argued that women's marginality in Muslim societies works through this division of space and regulation of access to it (Mernissi, 1975;Mohammad, 1999).…”