Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East

by Valentine M. Moghadam

Overview

Valentine Moghadam's seminal study of the gendered nature of political and social processes in the Middle East and North Africa has been fully updated to reflect more than a decade of major changes. This new edition reflects an emphasis on the impacts of both globalization and democratization. It also includes entirely new chapters on the gender dynamics of conflicts in the region, on women and the Arab Spring, and on the achievements of women's rights movements. The result is an indispensable contribution to our understanding of current popular struggles for modernity, democratization, and meaningful citizenship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781588269331
Publisher:	Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/24/2013
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Valentine M. Moghadam is professor of sociology and director of the International Affairs Program at Northeastern University. Her numerous publications includeGlobalization and Social Movements: Islamism, Feminism, and the Global Justice Movement and Globalizing Women: Gender, Globalization, and Transnational Feminist Movements (winner of the APSA Victoria Schuck Award).

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	ix
	Preface	xi
	Note on Transliteration and the Iranian Calendar	xv
1	Recasting the Middle East, North Africa, and Afghanistan	1
	Debating the Status of Muslim Women	3
	Assessing Women's Status	6
	Diversity in the Middle East	10
	A Framework for Analysis: Gender, Class, the State, Development	14
	Social Changes and Women in the Middle East	19
2	Economic Development, State Policy, and Women's Employment	33
	The Internationalization of Capital and the Middle East	36
	Oil, Liberalization, and Women's Employment	38
	Industrialization and Female Proletarianization	41
	Characteristics of the Female Labor Force	48
	State Policies and Women's Status: Some Cases	55
	Development, Work, and Women's Empowerment	67
	Conclusion	70
3	Reforms, Revolutions, and "the Woman Question"	79
	Gendering Revolutions	82
	The Kemalist Revolution in Turkey	90
	National Liberation, Revolution, and Gender in Algeria	93
	The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen	95
	Revolution, Islamization, and Women in Iran	98
	Afghanistan: The Saur Revolution and Women's Rights	101
	Revolution, State Building, and Women	104
4	Patriarchy and the Changing Family	113
	Patriarchal Society and Family	118
	Family Structure in the Middle East	124
	Neopatriarchal States and Personal Status Laws	126
	The Demographic Transition and Changes in Fertility Behavior	131
	Education and Women's Empowerment	135
	Conclusion	142
5	Islamist Movements and Women's Responses	151
	Causes and Social Bases of Islamist Movements	152
	Gharbzadegi: Problematics of Class and Gender	158
	States and Islamist Movements	161
	Personal Status Laws and the Control of Women	162
	Women and Islamist Movements: Some Cases	168
	Conclusion: Women's Responses to Islamist Movements	184
6	Iran: From Islamization to Islamic Feminism--and Beyond?	193
	Gender Ideology and Policies	193
	The Decline of Women's Status in the 1980s	202
	Liberalization and Policy Shifts in the 1990s	210
	Women in the Labor Force: Still Marginalized	211
	The Emergence of Islamic Feminism	215
	Conclusion: Religious State, Secular Society?	221
7	Afghanistan: Revolution, Reaction, and Attempted Reconstruction	227
	Afghan Social Structure and Its Implications for Women	228
	A Prototype of the Weak State	234
	Early Reforms Concerning Women	236
	Characteristics of Afghan Patriarchy	241
	The DRA and Women's Rights	244
	Internationalized Civil Conflict	249
	From Revolution to Reconciliation	251
	Social Organizations and Social Services	253
	Women in the Refugee Camps	259
	Gender Shock: Life Under Islamist Rule	264
	Toward Reconstruction, Development, and Women's Rights	267
	Conclusion	270
8	All That Is Solid Melts into Air ...	277
	Engendering Citizenship, Feminizing Civil Society	279
	Women in Movement: Claims and Gains	285
	Conclusion	294
	List of Acronyms	299
	Selected Bibliography	301
	Index	307
	About the Book	325

Editorial Reviews

One of the best studies of women and social change in the Middle East ever to be published.... Superb.

Choice

A tour de force.... a cogent and lively book that thoughtfully considers the political and economic issues emanating from gender constructs in state-building and economic development.

Ian Campbell

Writing from a Marxist-feminist perspective, Moghadam (economics, United Nations U., Helsinki) argues that middle-class women are at the center of change in the Middle East. She examines economic development, women's employment, the family, Islamic movements, and other social processes in a number of countries, and provides detailed case studies of Afghanistan and Iran. Paper edition (354-5), $17.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Moghadam addresses a bewildering array of puzzling anomalies and, slicing skillfully through them, exposes their bare bones and substructure.

Middle East Journal

A tour de force.... a cogent and lively book that thoughtfully considers the political and economic issues emanating from gender constructs in state-building and economic development.

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