On the issue of gender in MENA

By Hannah Feldman

Throughout the MENA region, rising population growth, education and labor markets, and healthcare adversely affect women. In general, poor health conditions and the lack of government-facilitated family planning programs increase fertility rates. With these poor health conditions, there are higher infant mortality rates. Women are seen as the primary caregivers, and are therefore, neither employed nor education beyond the primary school level. Research further demonstrates that unemployed and uneducated women have higher fertility rates. The rural areas in the MENA region tend to lack affordable healthcare and health conditions, which hinder the woman’s ability to produce healthy children. An increase in infant mortality rates actually increases the fertility rates, because there is an uncertainty if the child will make it out of infancy.

Tribal dimensions also play a role. Tribal societies are based on a patriarchal structure that subjugates women. Furthermore, honor killings are still prominent in the region, especially in Jordan, where women can be killed for destroying the “honor” of her family.

While the United States and Europe have drastically higher standards of living than some of the MENA states, women deal with similar issues. In particular is the lack of female political representation in the United States and the majority of MENA state. It is actually extremely depressing that the United States has such a low representation of women in Congress.  Meanwhile, many European nations have had or currently have female heads of state and a larger percentage of women holding political office. The United States still has a long way to come. However, the U.S. and Europe have greater gender equality than in the majority of MENA countries. European nations in general have more social programs, which allow paid maternity and paternity leave, supporting women, and helping to share the responsibility of raising a newborn with her husband or partner. Most MENA nations have paid maternity leave as well, but there are not a large proportion of women in the labor force, so it is not as crucial. It is also for women to get into the job marker in the US and Europe. The youth bulge in the MENA region and the lack of employment for young men have made it almost impossible for women to even enter the labor market. There are just not enough jobs. Finally, women in the U.S. and Europe have greater access to quality education and healthcare. A large proportion of poor MENA women do not attend secondary or tertiary education schools, and are therefore, unlikely to be competitive in the job market, let alone be employable.

In regards to Tunisia’s higher parliamentary representation women, one explanation stems from Michael Ross’s research on oil-producing states and the status of women. His research suggests that in countries where the major export is oil, women are not as actively involved in the labor force and are not political represented. Tunisia, is considered an oil-poor country, so if we go off of Michael Ross’s thesis, it makes sense that Tunisia has a higher representation of women in politics.