Gender Egalitarian Attitudes and Support for Islamist Parties in the Middle East

• In Event: Gendered Attitudes: Origins & Implications

Abstract

How do individuals’ attitudes toward women in politics affect support for Islamist political parties? Women’s issues remain a key point of contention between religious groups and the government. The majority of states in the Middle East and North Africa, including Israel, have given religious institutions authority over issues related to women and the family, for instance, personal status laws. Women’s individual rights are thus sacrificed to mitigate the growing popularity of religious groups and to facilitate alliances between religious groups and the government.

The intersection of religion, patriarchy, and the state further reinforces family-centric and communalist views of citizenship that tend to diminish women’s roles and rights as citizens (Joseph 1996). Prior literature shows, for instance, that women’s organization have concerns about Islamist parties coming to power, as women’s rights would be compromised due to the strict imposition of sharia law and there would be no hope for democratic reform (Brumberg, 2002; Waterbury, 1994). An implication of this research is that individuals who want to advance women’s political status may be reluctantly aligned with authoritarian - yet secular and “modern” - military states (i.e. Egypt, Turkey and Algeria) to prevent a potentially sexist and religiously conservative opposition from taking power (e.g., Brand, 1999; Tohidi and Baynes, 2001). Other research on gender and politics suggests individuals with gender egalitarian views should be more inclined to believe that all groups are deserving of democratic representation. Barnes and Córdova (2016), for instance, find that support for gender quotas and pro-democratic attitudes in Latin America are strongly and positively correlated. An implication of this research is that individuals who want to advance women’s political status should support equal access to representation for all groups, Islamist or secular.

To test these competing expectations, we analyze novel survey data from 9 Muslim majority countries (Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies). Our analysis lends support to our second set of expectations. Individuals with gender egalitarian views about women in politics (i.e., support in principle for a woman president or prime minister) are more likely to say that Islamist groups (specifically, the Muslim Brotherhood) should be allowed to have a political party. These results suggest that support for democratic principles, such as the right to political representation, ameliorate concerns that Islamist parties will restrict women’s rights if they come to power.


Barnes, Tiffany D., and Abby Córdova. 2016. “Making Space for Women: Explaining Support for Legislative Gender Quotas in Latin America.” Journal of Politics 78(3): 670-686.

Brumberg, Daniel. 2002. "Islamists and the Politics of Consensus." Journal of Democracy 13 (3): 109-115.

Joseph, Suad. 1996. "Gender and Citizenship in Middle Eastern States." Middle East Report 26 (1): 4-10.

Waterbury, John. 1994. "Democracy without Democrats? The Potential for Political Liberalization in the Middle East." In Ed. Din G. Salamé Democracy Without Democrats?: The Renewal of Politics in the Muslim World, pp. 23–47. London: I.B. Tauris.

Authors

• Anwar Mhajne, Stonehill College

• Gregory Saxton, Texas Tech University