Women in politics Across the Arab world the majority of women does not get directly involved in politics. There are parallels with other parts of the world… When they did get involved they tended to be active in left- wing movements, espousing a broad programme of socialist modernisation. In the 1980s they progressively became disenchanted with the political system and many of them turned to civil society activism to struggle for gender equality.

Women in politics II In many countries the focus of their activism is to reform personal status legislation where it discriminates against them or defend its broad equality when it is under attack by conservative forces. –These objectives coincide with the ones of the authoritarian regimes and therefore there is an unholy alliance between social activists and the authorities.

The role of women in Islamist parties Today, the majority of women active in politics in the region are found in Islamist parties. It might seem like a paradox because of the socially conservative nature of these parties. They have very firms and some would say illiberal positions regarding women’s rights. There is no doubt that the role of women in society is the most intense terrain of ideological contestation between Islamists and secular members of society. It is also a terrain of contestation between East and West.

Why? The research questions therefore are: why do these women join and/or vote for Islamist parties? There are a number of potential answers: –They join/vote because they follow the example of the men in their family or social circle. –They are actively recruited in order to improve the domestic and international image of the party/movement. –Islamism provides a channel for participating to politics without using Western political and ideological references. The rise of Islamic feminism –Islamism focuses its attention on issues that are very important to women for both themselves and family members: education and health.

What explains then? There is a general answer and a lot of more specific one. –The general answer is that, as in all more conservative societies, the unit of reference is still the family and not necessarily the individual. This is in part linked to resistance to globalisation, both cultural and economic. –The specific answers have to do with issues and identity. In terms of issues (health, education, jobs) and in terms of identity (anti- Western). –

Conclusion –Contrary to expectations, women tend to be today more militant in secular parties as in Islamist ones. –Islamist movements are not anti-women per se, they conceive of the role of women in society differently. Is it that different from European and or/ American conservative parties and movements? –Secular women are afraid of this return to conservatism because it might endanger their past achievements. –What constitutes exactly women’s rights? Wider struggle between liberal vision of society and a more traditional one. Individual rights versus common good?