Women, Work, and Patriarchy in the Middle East and North Africa

This book investigates why the rate of female labor force participation in the Middle East and North Africa is the lowest in the world. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the book explains that the primary reason for the low rate of female labor force participation is the strong institutions of patriarchy in the region. Using multiple proxies for patriarchy, this book quantifies the multi-dimensional concept of patriarchy in order to measure it across sixty developing countries over thirty years. The findings show that Middle Eastern and North African countries have higher levels of patriarchy with regards to women's participation in public spheres compared with the rest of the world. Although the rate of formal female labor force participation is low, women across the region contribute greatly to the financial wellbeing of their families and communities. By defining a woman's place as in the home, patriarchy has made women's economic activities invisible to official labor statisticssince it has caused many women to work in the informal sector of the economy or work as unpaid workers, thus creating an illusion that women in the region are not economically active. While religion has often legitimized patriarchy, oil income has made it affordable for many countries in the region.

Marks an important and original contribution to the understudied field of women's work in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Compares MENA countries with other developing regions and examines the changes within these countries over three decades Draws from a vast pool of international datasets to analyze a topic that has historically lacked data to critically test hypotheses

Autorentext
Fariba Solati is Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at St. Thomas University, Canada.

Inhalt

1. Introduction .- 2. Explaining the Low Rate of Female Labor Force Participation in the Middle East and North Africa .- 3. Measuring Patriarchy: The Determinants of Patriarchy in the Middle East and North Africa .- 4. Invisible Work of the Invisible Half: Women and 'Work' in the Middle East and North Africa .- 5. Conclusion.