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A Detailed Look: Middle East and North Africa
Gender discrimination in social institutions is very high across the 18 countries of the Middle East and North Africa. With the exception of Tunisia and Morocco, all the region’s countries ranked in the SIGI are in the bottom half of the distribution. Libya, the UAE, Iraq, Iran and Yemen figure in the bottom 20. Discrimination is particularly evident in civil liberties, family code and physical integrity.
Overall, despite some efforts to improve the situation of women, for example in access to education, discrimination and inequality persist. The role of women in society and in the family is greatly limited by social institutions. Furthermore, most countries in the region operate under a tripartite legal system - civil, Islamic and customary law- making it difficult to clarify women’s legal and social status.
On the positive side, some progress has been achieved, particularly in economic and political rights. In the spring of 2009, for example, Kuwait became the first country in the Gulf with women in national parliament and Saudi Arabia appointed its first female minister. Furthermore, in most countries women have the right to access land and property other than land, as well as to engage in commercial activities. An increasing number of women own and run businesses in countries such as Morocco, Jordan and Bahrain. This is also partly due to a dramatic improvement in women’s access to education.
But serious challenges remain, especially regarding legal rights and family law, which often confer legal authority to the husband. In several countries women have no right to pass on their nationality to their children if the father is foreign. Under sharia, inheritance laws grant smaller shares to women than to men: daughters typically inherit only half as much as sons. This is usually justified by the argument that women have no financial responsibility towards their husbands and children. Another challenge concerns women’s lack of protection against violence: in many countries, the penal code fails to safeguard women from “honour crimes’’ and sexual assault.
SIGI ranking
Not included in the overall SIGI ranking: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and The West Bank and Gaza.
Key Issue : Civil Liberties
Women’s civil liberties are a key issue in the region. Their freedom of movement and of dress is highly constrained. Women must generally obtain permission from a male relative, usually a husband or father, before seeking employment, requesting a loan, starting a business, or even travelling.
