The Effect of Religious Affiliation on Woman's Role in Middle Eastern Arab Society

In: Journal of comparative family studies, Volume 5, Issue 2, p. 117-129

Abstract

In the study of Arab society, religion is often seen as a major determinant of family structure, and of the status and role of women in society. This linkage, however, may not be so close as has been assumed. One way of testing it empirically is to compare the attitudes and behaviour of different religious groups within a single Arab country. If the different religious groups show similar attitudes and behaviour, then the effect of religion may not be so immediate and direct as has been thought. Data are presented in the paper that substantiate this argument. The data describe the system of norms held for women's behaviour by a large sample of non-elite educated youth in Lebanon. The sample corrects for the differences in social status and educational attainments of different religious groups. It is found that, although there are substantial differences between the norms held by young men and those held by young women, the differences by religious affiliation are small and inconsistent. A discussion is presented of this apparent absence of effect of religious affiliation.