Gender Equality in Muslim-Majority Countries

Islamic Constitutions and Democracy

“…We use provisions indicating whether Islamic law is the source of legislation and the degree of supremacy of Islamic law as proxies for the level of “Islamicity” of constitutions. The study follows previous work by Gouda and Potrafke (2016), as well as Gouda and Gutmann (2021). The former shows that discrimination against women is more pronounced in countries where Islamic law is the source of legislation, whereas the latter finds that countries, in which the supreme values of Islam are embedded in the constitution, exhibit more discrimination against religious minorities than comparable countries.…”

“…Furthermore, our findings have implications for research on further consequences of Islamic constitutionalism. Considerable literature shows that Islamic constitutional provisions have adverse consequences for gender equality (Gouda and Potrafke 2016), rule of law (Gouda 2013, Gutmann and Voigt 2015, 2018), as well as the protection of rights of religious minorities (Gouda and Gutmann 2021). Particularly in the case of democracy, it is, however, not well understood how or under what conditions exactly, Islam is detrimental to its consolidation.…”

“…The prevalence and influence of constitutional provisions that declare Shari’a to be a source of legislation is supremely important for constitutional design in Muslim countries (Gouda and Gutmann 2021; Gouda and Potrafke 2016). Islamic constitutional clauses have been widely spreading since the second part of the twentieth century and were featured in the constitutions of about forty percent of Muslim-majority countries in 2014 (Ahmed and Ginsburg 2014, 635).…”

Economic Freedom and Religion: An Empirical Investigation

“…Discrimination against women in Muslim-majority countries has been documented in numerous studies (see Donno and Russett 2004;Norton and Tomal 2009;Cooray and Potrafke 2011;Kilby and Scholz 2011;Cooray 2012;Potrafke and Ursprung 2012;Cho 2013;Cooray and Klasen 2014;Gutmann and Voigt 2015;Salahodjaev and Azam 2015;Potrafke 2016). Discrimination against women is more pronounced when Islam is the source of legislation (Gouda and Potrafke 2016). 10.…”

The Arab Spring, a setback for gender equality? Evidence from the Gallup World Poll

“…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 199017.4 percent in (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).…”