Patriarchy in Transition: Women and the Changing Family in the Middle East

The family is perhaps the only societal institution that is conceptualized as “essential” and “natural”, and its importance is emphasized by social conservatives across cultures. In this article I examine Islamic discourses on the family, their relationship to patriarchal social structures and neopatriarchal states, and implications for women’s legal status and social positions. Attention is then drawn to the contradictions and challenges that patriarchy and the family have encountered from economic development, the demographic transition, legal reform, and women’s increasing educational attainment in countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). I argue that the combination of declining fertility and changes to the structure of the family, along with the conservative backlash and women’s activism, are signs of the crisis of Middle Eastern patriarchy.