Intersections and Divergences of Gender Norms and ‘Modernity’ in the Arab Gulf States
This panel will raise questions regarding the changing role of women in the Gulf by elucidating ways in which these women situate themselves between modernization and tradition, forces often assumed to be in direct opposition. Modernization has manifested itself in the Gulf in a variety of forms, including technologies, (such as social media), economics, (such as neoliberal development discourse), and representative politics, (such as more equitable gender representation). While variables of modernization are certainly not limited to these categories, they speak to the unexpected consequences for the societies of the Gulf and the conceptions of modernity and gender roles within those societies.
While economics, technology, and politics are but three lone examples of how ‘modernity’ has manifested itself in the Arab Gulf states, their unexpected consequences on gender inequality when intersecting with traditional institutional norms leave women balancing these two dynamics, often perceived as paradoxical. This panel will be assembled to explore how gender inequality and the role of women in society is affected by the interplay of both traditional norms and modernity in the Arab Gulf States.
Panel Featuring
Dr. Dania Thafer, Moderator, Executive Director, Gulf International Forum
Dr. Sahar Khamis, Associate Professor, University of Maryland
Zarqa Parvez, Lecturer in Middle East Studies, Hamad bin Khalifa University
Alainna Liloia, PhD Candidate, University of Arizona