Recent social developments in the Middle East suggest that women are making slow but definite advances into the public sphere, from the adoption of gender quotas in Tunisia, to driving rights in Saudi Arabia. Yet many observers are cautious in the interpretation of these events, pointing out the ulterior motives of some regimes to impress Western governments and appear modern and democratic on the international stage. While the actions of governments and various organized women’s movements have been widely studied, much less has been said about the public sentiments underlying these events. Absent public opinion analysis, it is impossible to know if advances made by women are deeply rooted in changing social norms or are the by-product of an authoritarian version of state feminism that co-opts and uses feminist policies for its own ends. Is authoritarian state feminism a sustainable trend that reinforces public support for women in politics, or is it merely the product of extant political circumstances? In the latter case, feminist reforms may be susceptible to political changes and vulnerable to conservative backlash. This paper explores these questions by combining cross-national analysis of public opinion data in 12 Arab countries with an in-depth case study of support for women in politics in Qatar, as a case that has witnessed considerable state-led feminist reforms without a widespread women’s movement. The current study considers several established theoretical expectations such as the implication of socialization (Beaman 2009), status discontent (Banaszak and Plutzer 1993) and elite cues (Kittilson 2010) theories on feminist attitudes, while adding two theoretical consideration appropriate to the Middle East context. First, it examines the country-level variation in democracy with the expectation that elected female leaders are more closely tied to public opinion. Secondly, it accounts for Westernization as an individual-level factor that potentially socializes individuals into acceptance of women in politics. The analysis leverages public opinion data from a 2018 survey on social and economic life in Qatar. Consistent with the cross-national analysis, we look for evidence of socialization, status discontent, and elite cuing theories in the individual-level analysis. However, the case-study data are richer and permit analysis not available in the cross-national study. Thus, the paper move the theoretical discussion beyond state-centric conceptualizations of feminism in authoritarian regimes to explore the pressing issues surrounding public support for women in politics in the Middle East.

Studies on female labor market participation in the Arab world point at a gender paradox (Moghadam and Naguib, 2015). While the performance of most of these countries in terms of education and health has been outstanding, the female labor participation rate remains low and the gap between male and female labor force participation continues to be the highest by world standards (World Bank, 2013; Verme, 2015). On this matter, the state of Qatar offers an interesting case for investigation. It has the highest female labor participation rate in the region (51%) but it still ranks low when it comes to the gender inequality index (113) (UNDP, 2014). The Qatari government placed the empowerment of women among its national priorities and made it one of the pillars of its long-term strategy for the country known as Qatar National Vision 2030. The government followed this up with the implementation of a unique set of family-friendly and female friendly policies in the public sector. This appears to have paid off, as 81% of Qatari women work in the public sector (Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, 2015). In this paper, we will present preliminary findings about the representation of women in the Qatari public sector with some relevant policy implications and recommendations.

The aim of the paper that I intend to present is to trace back the development of workforce localisation policies in the Kingdom of Bahrain (Bahrainisation) post the neoliberal economic reforms that started in 2002. The Bahrainisation policies refers to different type of policy tools that aim at replacing the immigrant workers with nationals. The paper is based on data collected during a field work study in 2016 to study the labour market policy-making process in Bahrain between 2002-2016. Collected data covers personal interviews and policy papers. The post field work reflections will be drawn from interest group’s annual reports, media, and labour market data. The Focus of the paper will be on two interacting factors that affected the changes to Bahrainisation policies since the economic reforms . First, how the neoliberal norms informed the development of labour market policies in Bahrain. The Economic Development Board that initiated the labour and economic reforms supported deregulating the labour market and restructuring the economy from public to private sector. This strategy aimed to integrate Bahraini economy in the global market and to prepare the country for post oil economy. The second explanation to the localisation policies is with reference to policy process and how it enabled the private sector to affect the policy decision. The Bahrain chamber of commerce and industry negotiated the new terms for implementing Bahrainisation policies and were able to influence the policy outcomes. The need for businessmen to finance the labour market reform project was a source of influence over the policy outcome. They were able to ensure that the cost of hiring immigrant labour will not increase unless the Bahrainisation rates decreases. To conclude, the neoliberal norms that informed the Bahrainisation policies in the past 18 years have not succeeded in solving the segmented labour market nor limiting the rising unemployment among Bahrainis. However, the failure of such reforms to reduce the cost and right gap between Bahrainis and immigrant labour is not solely explained by the neoliberal norms. The business sector ability to renegotiate the Bahrainisation policies and its implementation is a major factor that contributed to the current policy outcomes. Thus, labour market structural reforms in Bahrain must take in to account the political feasibility of change. The political feasibility of change requires an examination of actors and events that affects the policy process and policy decisions.