Equality and Gender at Work in Islam: The Case of the Berber Population of the High Atlas Mountains

Claudia Eger

doi:10.1017/beq.2020.21

Abstract

This article investigates how religion-based social norms and values shape women’s access to employment in Muslim-majority countries. It develops a religiously sensitive conceptualization of the differential valence of genders based on respect, which serves to (re)produce inequality. Drawing on an ethnographic study of work practice in Berber communities in Morocco, aspects of respect are analyzed through an honor–shame continuum that serves to moralize and mediate gender relations. The findings show that respect and shame function as key inequality-(re)producing mechanisms. The dynamic interrelationship between respect and shame has implications for how we understand the ways in which gender inequality is institutionalized and (re)produced across different levels. Through these processes, gender-differentiated forms of respect become inscribed in organizational structures and practices, engendering persistent inequality.

Highlights

This article investigates how religion-based social norms and values shape women’s access to employment in Muslim-majority countries
By assessing the mutual dynamics of gender and religion, this article combines feminist theories of gender grounded in an Islamic feminist perspective with theories of respect
2010) captured in Islamic feminist theory is relevant to understanding gender equality in the Middle East–North Africa (MENA) region and the influence thereof on development processes

Summary

Introduction

This article investigates how religion-based social norms and values shape women’s access to employment in Muslim-majority countries. It introduces an Islamic feminist perspective to the study of gender at work in business ethics In the process, it develops a novel theorization of (in)equality by integrating an Islamic feminist lens with theories of respect. It develops a novel theorization of (in)equality by integrating an Islamic feminist lens with theories of respect This allows a capturing of how inequality is institutionalized and (re)produced across different levels through status beliefs. By integrating feminist theories of “doing gender” with an Islamic feminist perspective of “doing religion,” this article challenges and further extends this theoretical conceptualization to question dominant notions of respect In the process, it reconfigures the current debate on gender equality. By adopting an Islamic feminist perspective, this article aims to advance extant knowledge on gender equality in business ethics by studying the diverse, and often contradictory, religious discourses surrounding women’s employment

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