Kuwaiti Women at a Crossroads

Privileged Development and the Constraints of Ethnic Stratification

Bibliographic Data

ID8966629
AuthorsAnh Nga Longva (University of Oslo, corresponding author)
Year1993
Volume25
Issue3
Pages443-456
Publication date1993-08-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal Middle East Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7438 • E-ISSN: 1471-6380
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0020743800058864
OpenAlexW2132796981
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited12

As elsewhere in the developing world, the Arabian peninsula has undergone sweeping changes since World War II, with the important difference that the process here has been blessed with unprecedented prosperity and not marred by economic difficulties. To say that the effects of modernization upon the local societies differ as a result from what can be observed in other countries would be to state the obvious. Yet, when it comes to understanding the position and status of contemporary women in the Arabian oil producing countries, prosperity and the particular circumstances around it are rarely considered as crucial variables. The women's situation often is evaluated, mainly if not exclusively, in light of the religious injunctions and traditional norms that govern the female condition in a Middle East that, by the same token, appears curiously monolithic and timeless. There seems to be an assumption that Arabian women are not part of the societies in which they live, and that, by virtue of some unique cultural principle, their condition remains unaffected by the vectors of change that have turned upside down all the other areas of life around them. Hence the general tendency to assess women's opportunities and constraints in terms of what the Qurʾan and Islamic tradition dictate, not in terms of secular and more immediate concerns they may share with the rest of the society. Aside from assuming a spurious dichotomy between the women and their societies, such an approach disregards the historical and material specificity of particular areas in the Muslim world. It also arbitrarily and a priori defines the character of the meeting between “Islamic tradition” and “modernity,” instead of leaving it open to empirical investigation

Aside · Development economics · Economics · Ethnic group · Geography · Islam · Modernization theory · Political economy · Political science · Prosperity · Sociology · Virtue · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Marriage and Sexual Relationships · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub