Saskia Glas

The authors studied the impact of feminism in some Arab countries following the Arab Spring uprising across North Africa in 2011. They assessed the specific forms of the uprisings. They also examined whether pre-existing anti-Western value and gender relations influenced the visibility and resonance of feminist norms. 

Public opinion studies argue that in Middle Eastern and North African countries, Muslims support gender equality less than non-Muslims. This overlooks the diversity in religion–feminism relations. This paper argues that religious Muslims who support feminism are disregarded, even though in-depth studies have repeatedly pointed to their existence. The authors provide a large-scale analysis of support for Muslim feminism. Conducting latent class analyses on 64,000 Muslims in 51 Middle Eastern and North African contexts, they find that a substantial one in five Arab Muslims combines high attachment to Islam with support for feminism.