Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Determinants of Gender Inequality in the MENA Region

Rahman, Wahidur LU (2018) EKHS21 20181
Department of Economic History
Abstract
With time, the race among countries to reduce gender inequality has resulted in a worldwide reduction in gender discrimination. However, all regions have not performed equally; lagging behind most is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Many potential reasons have been put forward, but in recent times the most discussed sources of this disparity have been the region’s religion and oil dependency. Some have also suggested that neither have contributed more in suppressing women’s rights in MENA than the region’s unique non-Islamic culture. This paper will attempt to shed light on this contemporary debate through quantitative analysis, using a 25 yearlong panel data set (1991-2015) for 80 countries. The final results indicate that... (More)
With time, the race among countries to reduce gender inequality has resulted in a worldwide reduction in gender discrimination. However, all regions have not performed equally; lagging behind most is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Many potential reasons have been put forward, but in recent times the most discussed sources of this disparity have been the region’s religion and oil dependency. Some have also suggested that neither have contributed more in suppressing women’s rights in MENA than the region’s unique non-Islamic culture. This paper will attempt to shed light on this contemporary debate through quantitative analysis, using a 25 yearlong panel data set (1991-2015) for 80 countries. The final results indicate that though Islam does play a role, non-Islamic cultural characteristics of MENA also play a role in keeping gender inequality high in that region. Oil dependency on the other hand does not seem to influence gender inequality in any significant way. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Rahman, Wahidur LU
supervisor
organization
course
EKHS21 20181
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
MENA, gender inequality, oil, Islam, culture
language
English
id
8952588
date added to LUP
2018-08-20 14:51:39
date last changed
2018-08-20 14:51:39
@misc{8952588,
  abstract     = {{With time, the race among countries to reduce gender inequality has resulted in a worldwide reduction in gender discrimination. However, all regions have not performed equally; lagging behind most is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Many potential reasons have been put forward, but in recent times the most discussed sources of this disparity have been the region’s religion and oil dependency. Some have also suggested that neither have contributed more in suppressing women’s rights in MENA than the region’s unique non-Islamic culture. This paper will attempt to shed light on this contemporary debate through quantitative analysis, using a 25 yearlong panel data set (1991-2015) for 80 countries. The final results indicate that though Islam does play a role, non-Islamic cultural characteristics of MENA also play a role in keeping gender inequality high in that region. Oil dependency on the other hand does not seem to influence gender inequality in any significant way.}},
  author       = {{Rahman, Wahidur}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Determinants of Gender Inequality in the MENA Region}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}