Book
Modernizing Women

Gender and Social Change in the Middle East (paperback)

Exploring the impact of social change in the Middle East on women's status and roles, as well as women's varied responses, this book focuses on the gender dynamics of some of the major social processes in the region: economic development and women's employment, reforms and revolutions, the changing family, and Islamist movements. In doing so, it reveals that middle class women are at the centre of change and discourses about the change in the region. Moghadam crafts a conceptual framework based on the role of the state, development strategies, class, and culture in the shaping of women's lives. Writing from a Marxist-feminist perspective, she looks at the salience of the "woman question" and constructions of gender in the midst of social and political change. Data from a number of countries are presented, including in-depth case studies of Afghanistan and Iran.

Table of contents
  1. 1. Introduction and Overview: Recasting the Middle East
    Valentine M. Moghadam
  2. 2. Economic Development, State Policy, and Women's Employment
    Valentine M. Moghadam
    More Working Paper | Determinants of Female Labor Force Participation in the Middle East and North Africa
  3. 3. Modernizing Women: Reforms, Revolutions, and the Woman Question
    Valentine M. Moghadam
  4. 4. Women, Patriarchy, and the Changing Family
    Valentine M. Moghadam
  5. 5. Islamist Movements and Women’s Responses
    Valentine M. Moghadam
  6. 6. Women in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Inequality, Accommodation, Resistance
    Valentine M. Moghadam
  7. 7. Women and Social Change in Afghanistan
    Valentine M. Moghadam
  8. 8. Conclusion: All That Is Solid Is Melting into Air
    Valentine M. Moghadam
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