7 - Gender Imbalances across North Africa

Summary

Gender inequality remains a pervasive issue across the globe. In North Africa, while several states in the region have made broad public attempts at empowering women, gender gaps remain in everything from political participation over education to employment. These gaps have important local implications and have often been the focus of international attention. This chapter evaluates the status of gender equality in the region and examines efforts at addressing gender inequality – whether by national governments, local officials, local civil society actors or international donors. When discussing gender, I am not only describing the role of women. Rather, I use Valentine Moghadam's definition of ‘a system of unequal social relations between men and women’ in what Zakia Salime describes as ‘a field of struggle and a marker for specific shifts in power arrangements’.

Gender imbalances matter for a variety of ethical and practical reasons. On the most basic level, it is incumbent upon governments and societies to treat all their citizens equally, regardless of gender. Gender equality under the law, as well in practice, is a foundation for any just society. Furthermore, the lack of gender equality at the national level has trickle-down effects on the workplace and the home, and governments can use gender inequality as a tool to sow division within society. Additionally, several scholars have shown the connection between higher rates of women's employment and higher wages and a more equal position in the home, which can contribute to a more equal standing in marriage, family life and overall self-worth for women.

On a state level, and specifically in North Africa, state formation was crucial to developing and defining the role of women and their relationship with the post-colonial state. As Mounira Charrad argues, states address women's rights in different ways, ‘depending on their own sources of support, their projects for the future society and the nature of other contenders to power within each historical context’. She describes gender policies as ‘pawns in broader conflicts and alliances. They become the outcome and sometimes a tool of struggles among social and political groups fighting over state power’.