Friday, January 29, 2016

Questions about gender

Your readings last week covered a wide range of topics: economic growth and structural transformation; demographic change; health, education and labor markets; and the status of women in society. The common denominator for all of these issues is gender: women and men are impacted differently by rapid urbanization, the state’s choices in health and education spending, and the development on labor markets. In what ways? Do women in MENA face different challenges than women in Europe or the United States (where women’s representation in Congress is pretty abysmal)? Tunisia has a higher parliamentary representation of women than the region as a whole – how can we explain difference across the region in women’s political influence?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25916831

http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2016 at 2:09 PM

    With regards to greater representation of women in parliaments in countries like Tunisia, I think that while there are certainly aspects to celebrate in the fact that women there hold more seats in the parliament than the U.S. or even most European countries (being elected to these positions certainly shows a level of advancement beyond what we see in most places throughout the West), I think it's also important to note the fact that in many cases in the past and present, countries like Tunisa have been subjected to the state co-optation of feminist issues. That is where the state (or political parties) take up the banner of so-called "equality" or gender parity under the guise of expanding human rights for all, while in reality just using the issue to gain leverage with Western countries by adopting the discourse that is more palatable to the West. We saw this with Ben Ali's government where his wife, Laila, took up the banner of gender issues and Laila controlled many of the women's associations. And we unfortunately continue to see it beyond the Tunisian Revolution. For example, certain activists in Tunisia have argued that Ennahda Party (the leading Islamist party) is hardly truly committed to the principle of parity and that they nominated women just to “fill in the blanks” in their electoral lists or to clean up their image in the eyes of national and international observers. Women’s rights are yet again being used as part of a political game, and the party has adopted such measures simply to rebuild its support base. I'm not trying ot say that the gains aren't positive for women, as I said, it is impressive and noteworthy that they have achieved more than their counterparts in Western countries. I just feel that it should be situated in the proper context which is to say that gender issues are a political football of sorts which politicians, the state, and political parties can manipulate (and have manipulated) for political gain.

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