Oil: The root of all evil?
August 27, 2008
I’m reading an extremely interesting and thought-provoking paper called Oil, Women and Islam by Michael Ross. I’m sure the title itself is self-explanatory, but here’s an introduction nevertheless:
“Women have made less progress toward gender equality in the Middle East than in any other region. Many observers claim this is due to the region’s Islamic traditions. I suggest that oil, not Islam, is at fault; and that oil production also explains why women lag behind in many other countries. Oil production reduces the number of women in the labor force, which in turn reduces their political influence. As a result, oil-producing states are left with atypically strong patriarchal norms, laws, and political institutions. I support this argument with global data on oil production, female work patterns, and female political representation, and by comparing oil-rich Algeria to oil-poor Morocco and Tunisia. This argument has implications for the study of the Middle East, Islamic culture, and the resource curse.”
You can read it here.
-F
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Sahar
Farah
August 28, 2008 at 6:25 am
The question is why is increase in the number of women in the labour force a good thing ? how will children get a islamic education and morals tarbiyah ?
The free inter mixing of women and men leads to the relationships outside of marriage which is not a good thing
August 28, 2008 at 8:15 am
ahmad, thats a bit simplistic don’t you think?
extra-marital affairs do not occur simply because women and men freely inter-mix, and children are taught islamic morals through more avenues than *just* their mother.
people such as yourself always conveniently forget islam’s rich history of participation by women in all spheres of life, whether political or domestic. the most obvious that springs to mind right now is firstly, the woman after which the blog is named (or did that escape your attention?!) and the Prophet’s (PBUH) first wife Khadija. There are also a number of contemporary examples of women participating in higher levels of policics and civil society one can draw on, widely across South East Asia and to a certain extent in the Middle East. The argument proposed is interesting and probably has its merits, but for some reason my computer won’t open the link and so i can’t comment on it right now.
There are a number of challenge I believe faced by Muslim-majority countries, and the re-interpretation of the role of women in society and the wide contributions women can make (not just in the labour force but in all aspects of life) is but one issue they face in an effort to strengthen civil society.
August 29, 2008 at 7:20 pm
[...] posits that oil is what’s holding Muslim women in West Asia back. Salon has a similar [...]
August 30, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I think this argument is a novel idea but it doesn’t ring true. The comparison of Morocco and Tunisia versus Algeria mentioned in the extract is very weak; I’m not sure if the author is aware of the massive rise in women’s participation in “high end” workplaces such as law and business, or (if I am remembering correctly) the fact that the majority of university students in Algeria are female.
I think at the end of the day oil production has had little relevance in comparison to the extent to which colonialial governance was entrenched in Muslim countries – which offers an alternative explanation as to why the gulf countries are “behind”. Additionally, one could cite the role of secular socialist movemements. Iraq under the Baath party is an obvious example; an Arab nation so secularised that the US felt comfortable sending a female ambassador, which was not done for any other Arab nation. And obviously, Iraq was entirely dependant on oil money.
And most blatantly obvious of all, doesn’t the author’s argument hinge on the assumption that women’s participation in the work place leads to greater political weight? I’m not convinced that the modern system is in fact democratically accountable to men OR women. The bank ultimately has more power over most of us than the government. Gender has little to do with that equation. Our primary identity in the modern nation state is not “man” or “woman” or “muslim” or “christian”, it is “taxpayer/debtor.”
Just some thoughts : )
As for the above comments, I am continually shocked and amazed at the amount of infidelity that has gone at every workplace i have been in. It may be simplicistic to ascribe all evils to mixed work environments, but as a result of my own observations I cannot bring myself to believe that it isn’t a major factor.