Abstract
The uprisings that led to regime change during the early period of the Arab Spring were initially inclusive and pluralistic in nature, with men and women from every political and religious orientation engaging actively in political activities on the street and in virtual spaces. While there was an opening of political space for women and the inclusion of demands of marginalized groups in the activists’ agenda, the struggle to reimagine national identities that balance Islamic roots and secular yearnings is still ongoing in many countries in the region. This paper seeks to deepen understanding of the extent to which the pluralistic sentiments and openness to accepting the rights women have persisted following the uprising. We aim to examine changes in attitudes towards women’s equality in countries that underwent regime change through popular uprisings during revolutionary upheavals of the Arab Spring and in countries where regimes have remained unchanged. Using available data from consecutive rounds of the Arab Barometer survey, we examine changes in attitudes in nine countries with two rounds of Arab Barometer during and post Arab Spring (Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon, Sudan, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine). We find that support for “Muslim feminism” (an interpretation of gender equality grounded in Islam) has increased over the period and particularly in Arab Spring countries, while support for “secular feminism” has declined. In most countries examined, relatively high degrees of support for gender equality co-exist with a preference for Islamic interpretations of personal status codes pertaining to women. We discuss the implications of these findings for academics and activists concerned with women’s rights in the Middle East North Africa (MENA).
Highlights
For many Western observers, Islamism, and more broadly governance based on Islamic principles is viewed as inherently antagonistic to democracy and women’s rights
The two exceptions to this trend were the historically most secular countries—Lebanon and Tunisia—where a minority and a lesser plurality respectively agreed that women’s status codes should be interpreted in accordance with Islamic law. Bucking this trend, a majority of Tunisians believed that inheritance laws should be interpreted in accordance with Islamic law. In addition to their higher support for secularism, Most countries were divided over whether women should be required to wear the hijab with Lebanon, Tunisia and Sudan most strongly opposing this requirement
Countries were divided over whether university education should be co-ed with Lebanon and Tunisia showing the strongest support for mixed education over time
Summary
For many Western observers, Islamism, and more broadly governance based on Islamic principles (or any theocratic principles for that matter) is viewed as inherently antagonistic to democracy and women’s rights. Theocracies are deemed antagonistic to democratic rule, since, rather than giving power to the people to govern themselves, power is granted to self-appointed surrogates of the divine who dictate their own interpretations. Based on this notion, the working assumption has been that to support women’s rights, countries must be secular. Islamic interpretations of personal status codes (not unlike other monotheistic religions) is generally viewed as antagonistic to women’s rights. This view is supported by the fact that countries living under an Islamic theocracy, e.g., Iran, Afghanistan under the Taliban, Algeria under the Islamic Salvation Front, have seen sharp curtailments in women’s rights, including dictating the veiling of women and enforcing conservative interpretations of personal status codes
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