Cross-country Analysis of Women’s Participation in the Labor Force and Political Representation in Middle East
Nahid Kalbasi Anaraki, Fort Hays State University (United States)
Abstract
This article offers an interdisciplinary review of women’s constraints and opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) using a quantitative cross-country analysis, to measure the constraints on female participation in the labor force and parliament presentation. Though there is a vast amount of literature on women’s rights at individual country level, the literature lacks a cross-country analysis in the MENA region, particularly a quantitative analysis which tests the impact of education and other fundamentals versus corruption and other cultural constraints. We test three hypotheses; first what are the factors that have affected women’s participation in the labor force. Second, what are the factors that have shaped female political representation in the parliaments. Third, whether women’s participation in the labor force and political representation has improved Post- Arab Spring in the MENA region.
JEL Classification: I24, J16, K38, Z10
Keywords: Women’s empowerment, Arab spring, gender equality, corruption, patriarchal culture, education, diversity.
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