Women, Work, and Patriarchy in the Middle East and North Africa

Women, Work, and Patriarchy in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Fariba Solati
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2017-03-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319515772

This book investigates why the rate of female labor force participation in the Middle East and North Africa is the lowest in the world. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the book explains that the primary reason for the low rate of female labor force participation is the strong institutions of patriarchy in the region. Using multiple proxies for patriarchy, this book quantifies the multi-dimensional concept of patriarchy in order to measure it across sixty developing countries over thirty years. The findings show that Middle Eastern and North African countries have higher levels of patriarchy with regards to women’s participation in public spheres compared with the rest of the world. Although the rate of formal female labor force participation is low, women across the region contribute greatly to the financial wellbeing of their families and communities. By defining a woman’s place as in the home, patriarchy has made women’s economic activities invisible to official labor statistics since it has caused many women to work in the informal sector of the economy or work as unpaid workers, thus creating an illusion that women in the region are not economically active. While religion has often legitimized patriarchy, oil income has made it affordable for many countries in the region.

Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Deon Filmer
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2014-01-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 146480107X

"The series is sponsored by the Agence Francaise de Developpement and the World Bank."

Women Encounter Technology

Women Encounter Technology
Author: Swasti Mitter
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134799519

This collection explores the effects of new technologies on women's employment and on the nature of women's work. The volume is edited by two pre-eminent scholars in the field and contains thirteen articles from leading academics worldwide. The book provides a critique of postmodernism and ecofeminism and demands that new technology is used as a vehicle for gender equality in the developing world.

Women's Economic Empowerment

Women's Economic Empowerment
Author: Kate Grantham
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2021-03-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000340341

This book investigates the barriers to women’s economic empowerment in the Global South. Drawing on evidence from a wide range of countries, the book outlines important lessons and practical solutions for promoting gender equality. Despite global progress in closing gender gaps in education and health, women’s economic empowerment has lagged behind, with little evidence that economic growth promotes gender equality. International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC) Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) programme was set up to provide policy lessons, insights, and concrete solutions that could lead to advances in gender equality, particularly on the role of institutions and macroeconomic growth, barriers to labour market access for women, and the impact of women’s care responsibilities. This book showcases rigorous and multi-disciplinary research emerging from this ground-breaking programme, covering topics such as the school-to-work transition, child marriage, unpaid domestic work and childcare, labour market segregation, and the power of social and cultural norms that prevent women from fully participating in better paid sectors of the economy. With a range of rich case studies from Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Uganda, this book is perfect for students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working on women’s economic empowerment and gender equality in the Global South.

Women and Power in Post-Conflict Africa

Women and Power in Post-Conflict Africa
Author: Aili Mari Tripp
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2015-10-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1107115574

The book explains an unexpected consequence of the decrease in conflict in Africa after the 1990s. Analysis of cross-national data and in-depth comparisons of case studies of Uganda, Liberia and Angola show that post-conflict countries have significantly higher rates of women's political representation in legislatures and government compared with countries that have not undergone major conflict. They have also passed more legislative reforms and made more constitutional changes relating to women's rights. The study explains how and why these patterns emerged, tying these outcomes to the conjuncture of the rise of women's movements, changes in international women's rights norms and, most importantly, gender disruptions that occur during war. This book will help scholars, students, women's rights activists, international donors, policy makers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and others better understand some of the circumstances that are most conducive to women's rights reform today and why.

Empowering Women

Empowering Women
Author: Mary Hallward-Driemeier
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2012-10-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0821395343

This book provides compelling evidence from 42 Sub-Saharan African countries that gender gaps in legal capacity and property rights need to be addressed in terms of substance, enforcement, awareness, and access if economic opportunities for women in Sub-Saharan Africa are to continue to expand.

Women and Development in Africa

Women and Development in Africa
Author: Michael Kevane
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2004
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781588262387

Kevane explores gender issues in Africa in the context of the continent's poor economic performance.

The Invention of Women

The Invention of Women
Author: Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 1997-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1452903255

The "woman question", this book asserts, is a Western one, and not a proper lens for viewing African society. A work that rethinks gender as a Western contruction, The Invention of Women offers a new way of understanding both Yoruban and Western cultures. Oyewumi traces the misapplication of Western, body-oriented concepts of gender through the history of gender discourses in Yoruba studies. Her analysis shows the paradoxical nature of two fundamental assumptions of feminist theory: that gender is socially constructed in old Yoruba society, and that social organization was determined by relative age.

Holding the World Together

Holding the World Together
Author: Nwando Achebe
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2019-04-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 029932110X

Featuring contributions from some of the most accomplished scholars on the topic, Holding the World Together explores the rich and varied ways in which women have wielded power across the African continent, from the precolonial period to the present. Suitable for classroom use, this comprehensive volume considers such topics as the representation of African women, their role in national liberation movements, their experiences of religious fundamentalism (both Christian and Muslim), their incorporation into the world economy, changing family and marriage systems, impacts of the world economy on their lives and livelihoods, and the unique challenges they face in the areas of health and disease. Contributors: Nwando Achebe, Ousseina Alidou, Signe Arnfred, Andrea L. Arrington-Sirois, Henryatta Ballah, Teresa Barnes, Josephine Beoku-Betts, Emily Burril, Abena P. A. Busia, Gracia Clark, Alicia Decker, Karen Flint, December Green, Cajetan Iheka, Rachel Jean-Baptiste, Elizabeth M. Perego, Claire Robertson, Kathleen Sheldon, Aili Mari Tripp, Cassandra Veney

Women Writing Africa

Women Writing Africa
Author: Esi Sutherland-Addy
Publisher: Feminist Press
Total Pages: 477
Release: 2005
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9781558615007

A major literary and scholarly work that transforms perceptions of West African women's history and culture.