Gendering Advocacy NGOs in the Arab World: Women between Politics and Labour Market Dynamics

Dr. Maha Abdelrahman

This seminar will explore the high levels of women’s employment in Advocacy NGOs in the Arab World relative to other sectors in the labour market where women characteristically face a high degree of discrimination. The marginalization of women and their agenda by political parties, the aggressive neo-liberal policies which negatively affect women in the public sector, and the traditional discrimination against female workers in the private sectors are some of the push factors that have encouraged many women to seek employment and a political career in advocacy NGOs. While other pull factors make professional employment in advocacy NGOs a very desirable choice for many women, questions about gendering institutions in the region remain very potent.

Bio

Maha Abdelrahman is a lecturer in Development Studies at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge. Her research interests cover a wide range of aspects of development, sociology and politics, including the State, civil society, NGOs, social movements, political Islam, democracy and opposition politics, and human rights – all within the context of the Middle East. Among her current research interest are: rising forms of political opposition and protest movements in the Middle East, and women’s employment in NGOs.

Organiser: Bloomsbury Gender Network and the Centre for Gender Studies (SOAS)

Contact email: N.S.Al-Ali@soas.ac.uk