Culture, Rights, and Norms: Women’s Rights Reform in Muslim Countries

Abstract

While gender inequality in developing countries is widely studied, the obstacles facing women in Muslim countries and the efficacy of the various strategies to overcome it are less well understood. Extant strategies for improving women’s conditions rely on transnational advocacy primarily through norms building, however, the effectiveness of such approaches has largely escaped systematic evaluation. Examining discrimination in family and nationality laws, which exemplify women’s unequal citizenship, I offer a complementary perspective that emphasizes the role of core rights—improving women’s education levels and work force participation—to explain differences in women’s status. Using cross-national data, I analyze the influence of Islamic culture and the factors that advance these citizenship rights. The results suggest both that Islamic tenets influence the nature of inheritance and nationality rights in Muslim countries, and that promoting women’s core rights in education and labor force participation can moderate the effects of religious culture.