Project Sketch

Shifts in women’s position in Islamic countries: A political, economic and social perspective

Introduction
After 9/11 we have witnessed a resurgence of Islam as a hot topic in (political) science. In the debate that has developed gender equality has taken a central position. Labour market participation is an important indicator of gender equality, because paid employment is a major step towards economic independence and inclusion in society (Gundüz-Hoşgör & Smits 2004). Data of ILO show the labour market participation of women above 14 in Islamic countries varies from less than 30% in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, to over 60% in Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, and Burkina Faso. This seems to contrast with the idea that the group of Islamic societies is homogeneous, and that Islam cannot be harmonized with gender equality. The great variation among Islamic countries regarding gender equality, or at least regarding labour market participation of women, raises the question of how these differences in women’s labour market participation can be explained.
Current research points at some possible explanations for this divergence, such as the variation in institutional contexts in Islamic countries (e.g. differences in degree of democracy, the influence of Islamic law, and labour market structures and policies) and at individual/household level factors, such as the level of education of women or family size. However, until now the research done is fragmented (both in terms of its theoretical depth and in terms of its empirical testing), and little is known or written about the more complex interactions between women’s labour market participation, Islam and other political, economical, and social factors and structures. Both comprehensive theories and the (comparative) research aimed at testing such theories are lacking.

Aims
The proposed research project has three major aims. The first aim is to contribute to the development of political science and economics by building a comprehensive theoretical framework explaining the quantitative and qualitative labour market participation of women in Islamic countries in terms of both political and economical institutions and their interaction. The second aim is to organize this framework so that it incorporates explanatory factors at both the individual and the aggregate level.
The third aim is to build a database that enables the testing of the conceptual framework.
Hypotheses derived from the conceptual framework will be tested with the newly built database containing information on the position of women on the labour market in Islamic countries and data on political, socio-economical, cultural and religious factors from the individual to the international level.

Research Questions
 What are the relevant factors at the individual/household level explaining women’s labour market participation in Islamic countries?
 What are relevant political, economic, and cultural structures, policies and characteristics of the local, national and international context explaining women’s labour market participation in Islamic countries?
 How do political, socio-economical, cultural and religious factors at different levels of aggregation interact in influencing women’s labour market participation in Islamic countries?
 What are the most effective public and private policies to influence the position of women on the labour market in Islamic countries?

Preliminary results from master thesis
In my master thesis, I have investigated the impact of the level of democracy on women’s labour market participation in Islamic countries at the country level. My analyses have shown that the level of practical democracy (participation, deliberation, diversity in communication, and the adherence to human rights) is an important factor influencing women’s labour market participation. Democracy fosters the ideas of freedom and equality and especially practical democracy gives women possibilities to influence decision-making. It also makes policy makers more responsive to people’s wishes. Besides that, the economical structure of a country is related to variations in women’s labour market participation. Urbanisation has a negative effect on women’s total labour market participation (women tend to retreat from agricultural work), but it has a positive impact on formal sector labour market participation (more jobs for women becoming available). As the analyses in my master thesis have been restricted to the country-level, the relationships I have discovered between the different aspects of democracy and women’s labour force participation are just a first step in the direction of unravelling the complex interrelationship between the factors at different levels of aggregation that together determine whether women in these countries will work or not. I hope that the “Witte Raven”-fonds will offer me the possibility to formulate a PhD project in which I can contribute to the development of theory and empirical evidence by studying this very complex interrelationship.   

Theory
Theories from a wide spectrum of disciplines (political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, law) suggest various factors at individual, household, local, national and international level, which will be incorporated in the conceptual framework of this project.
At the level of the individual, demographic, socio-economic and cultural/religious factors are expected to be important (i.e. Altschuler 2003: 227; Brouns et al 1995: 266; Gündüz-Hoşgör & Smits 2004; Jansen 2004; Kalpagam 1994:64-5, 84-7; Tiano 1994: 49-50). At the household level factors like income/wealth, number of children, the educational level and occupation of the husband and the personal autonomy of women are expected to be related to women’s labour market participation. At the local level the degree of urbanisation is suggested as are political, cultural and religious factors such as dominant gender norms and religious denominations (Spierings 2005: 58-63; Kymlicka 2001: 227).
At the national level political, cultural and economical variables such as colonial history, level of democracy, welfare and gender equality policies, economical structure and level of development, degree of secularism, and the public participation of women have proved to be relevant (Brouns et al 1995: 253; Eviota 1992: 8-18; Inglehart & Norris 2003: 73; le Grand & Tsukaguchi – le Grand 2003: 74; Leijenaar 1996: 12-4; Sainsbury 1996: 95-6). For example, post-communist regimes (as in the Central-Asian Islamic countries) are expected to foster women’s labour market participation based on equalitarianism. On the contrary, a history of being colonised is regarded as unfavourable for the position of women, while liberalising economies should develop a growing female labour force (Muller 1995: 976-9; Kandiyoti 1991: 13; Abou El Fadl 2001:  ix).
At the transnational level, theories of international (economic) relations and international political economy suggest that the influence of international organisations, like IMF and World Bank reforms, interdependence, involvement in wars and globalisation, all might be related to the socio-economic position of women and associated (governmental) actions and processes (Nye 2000: 179-87; Rodrik 2000: 348; Strange 1994: 18; van der Vleuten 2004).
This overview of theoretical fragments shows the necessity of developing a more comprehensive theoretical framework and the relevance of an integrative multilevel approach in order to answer the research questions. Necessarily, different research paradigms will have to be compared, such as rational choice versus norm based constructivism, human capital theory and value expectation theories, or neoclassic and institutionalist theories from economics (Nye 2000: 4-7; Brouns et al 1995: 268-71; Hodgson 1998).

Data & Methods
To test the hypotheses derived from the theoretical framework, a large database will be built up in which all the available data sets with individual/household level information on Islamic countries are brought together and made comparable. The data sets are nationally based representative DHS and PAPFAM Household surveys, which are available through the VIDI research project. Data sets are available for 31 Islamic countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Albania, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Kazachstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Benin, Comores, Ivory Coast, and Guinea. The database will contain information on more than 150,000 women and their households. The individual and household level data are to be supplemented by regional and country level data on economical, political, social, cultural and religious structures and practises. Most of this data will be newly acquired or constructed, translating theoretical concepts to measurable indicators.
To measure gender autonomy and household wealth indexes are being constructed for these data sets within the VIDI project. For the levels of democracy, Islamism and governmental intervention of indexes will be developed building on the work in my master thesis. These indexes will in turn be used within the VIDI project to study the effects of these factors on educational participation of children.
The database build up for this project will contain much more information than is needed for the project. That means that its data infrastructure can also be used for other comparative research projects focusing on the Islamic world.
The possible effects, importance and interactions of all relevant variables will be tested using comparative multilevel analyses

Output
The expected results of this project will be: one conference paper, two international articles, a functioning database and a proposal for a Ph. D. research submitted to NWO.

Bibliography
Abou El Fadl, K., 2001, Speaking in God’s Name. Islamic Law, Authority and Women, Oxford: Oneworld.
Altschuler, J., 2003, ‘Asymmetric power relations: domestic labour in Global Perspective’, European Journal of Women’s Studies, Vol. 12, no. 2, 227-34.
Brouns, M., M. Verloo, M. Grünell (eds.), Vrouwen studies in de jaren negentig. Een kennismaking vanuit verschillende disciplines, Bussum: Dick Coutinho.
Eviota, E. U., 1992, The Political Economy of Gender. Women and the sexual division of labour in the Philippines, London, New Jersey: Zed Books Ltd..
Gundüz-Hoşgör, A, J. Smits, 2004, ‘Globalization, employment and the empowerment of women in Turkey’, Paper presented at the conference on "Social Capital and Social Transformations in the Age of Glocalization" of the ISA Research Committee 26, Molyvos, Lesvos, Greece.
Hodgson, G., 1998, ‘The Approach of Institutional Economics’, Journal of Economic Literature, vol. 36, 166-92.
Inglehart, R., P. Norris, 2003, ‘The True Clash of Civilizations’, in: Foreign Policy Magazine, March/April 2003. 
Jansen, W., 2004, ‘The Economy of religious Merit: women and Ajr in Algeria’, in: The Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 9, nr. 4, pp 1-17.
Kalpagam, U., 1994, Labour and Gender. Survival in urban India, New Delhi, London: Sage Publications.
Kandiyoti, D.,  1991, ‘Women, Islam and the State’, Middle East Report, pp. 9-14.
Kymlicka, W., 2001, Contemporary Political Philosophy. An Introduction, 2nd edition, New York: Oxford University Press.
Le Grand, C., T. Tsukaguchi-le Grand, 2003, ‘Gender, Employement Systemsand Labour Market Outcomes in Japan and Sweden’, in: Grand, C., T. Tsukaguchi-le Grand (eds.), 2003, Women in Japan and Sweden. Work and Family in Two Welfare Regimes, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 63-92.
Leijenaar, M., 1996, Hoe te komen tot een evenwichtige deelname van vrouwen en mannen aan de politieke besluitvorming, Luxembourg: European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs.
Muller, E. N., 1995, ‘Economic Determinants of Democracy’, American Sociological Review, Vol. 60, 966-82.
Nye, J.S. Jr., 2000, Understanding International Conflict. An Introduction to Theory and History, 3rd edition, New York: Addison Wesley Longman Inc..
Rodrik, D., 2000, ‘Governance of Economic Globalization’, Nye, J.S., J. D. Donahue (eds), Governance in a Globalizing World, Washington DC: Brookings, 341-65.
Sainsbury, D., 1996, Gender, equality, and welfare states, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spierings, N., 2005, Democracy works for women and work. A statistical comparative study on the influence of democracy on women’s labour market participation in Islamic countries, Master thesis in Political Science, Radboud University, Nijmegen.
Strange, S., 1994, States and Markets. An Introduction to International Political Economy, London: Pinter.
Tiano, S., 1994, Patriarchy on the line: labor, gender, and ideology in the Mexican maquila industry, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Van der Vleuten, A., 2004, ‘Een oorlog doet meer voor de sociaal-economische positie van vrouwen dan een vakbond’, Lover. Tijdschrift over Feminisme, Cultuur en Wetenschap, vol. 31, no. 3, 52-3.