Evidence from around the world has indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has had disproportionate effects on men and women. Although it has represented a tragedy for all, women appear to have suffered disproportionately due to increasing domestic responsibilities, loss of employment, access to health services, and personal safety. The status of women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) before the pandemic makes these issues of particular concern. Women’s labor force participation rates were among the lowest in MENA while legal restrictions and societal norms in many countries limited women’s roles in the public sphere. Within this context, the challenges resulting from COVID could represent a setback for the status of women. Yet, the status of women in MENA is not as simple as often assumed. In this paper, we will share results from the Arab Barometer on attitudes towards gender in the MENA region. Data from the sixth wave, which was collected during the pandemic in 2020-2021, suggest that retrenchment of women’s gains is already underway. These material and political imbalances may be exacerbated by attitudinal barriers that may prove equally difficult to overcome in a post-pandemic world. Arab Barometer results make clear that women have suffered significantly from the COVID beyond the direct effects from the virus itself, which is in line with findings from around the world. Relative to men, women are more likely to have lost employment or had an interruption to their work over the course of the pandemic, which is likely to set back ongoing efforts to increase women’s labor force participation rates.