Gender mainstreaming in politics of Arab Gulf States. (c2009)

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the feasibility of the gender political mainstreaming programs in the Arab Gulf States. It sheds light on the current literary debate regarding mainstreaming and the strategies that aim to provide support to advance women rights in traditional Arab societies. It investigates the prospect of Arab Gulf women achieving political mainstreaming. It adopts a survey research methodology through semi structured interviews with twenty nine young leaders from four Arab Gulf States namely: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman. The data gathered on the status of women in the Gulf reveals primary cultural and religious challenges confronting gender political mainstreaming. These challenges are analyzed on both country and regional levels; areas of differences and similarities have been noted. It also studies the challenges regarding the mainstreaming approaches and the impact of such challenges on job and decision making opportunities. The paper examines the feasibility of particular policy reforms and pilot projects as to jumpstart an overall strategy and policy vision of gender political mainstreaming in the Gulf Finally, it provides recommendations for mainstreaming approaches and policy reforms taking into consideration traditional and cultural peculiarities.