Table Of ContentParty Politics, Religion, and Women’s Leadership
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Party Politics, Religion, and
Women’s Leadership
Lebanon in Comparative Perspective
Fatima Sbaity Kassem
ISBN 978-1-349-46210-0 ISBN 978-1-137-33321-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137333216
PARTY POLITICS, RELIGION, AND WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
Copyright © Fatima Sbaity Kassem, 2013.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-33320-9
All rights reserved.
First published in 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
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edition: December 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
C O N T E N T S
List of Graphs and Tables v ii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments x i
Introduction 1
One Toward a Theory of Party Religiosity and
Women’s Leadership 9
Two A Traveling Theory of Party Religiosity and
Women’s Leadership 4 1
Three Why Lebanon? The Puzzle and Pool of Women in
Party Politics 55
Four Party Religiosity, Political Culture, and
the Civil War 75
Five Unpacking Party Institutionalization 113
Six F inding That Special Niche: Women for Parties 1 33
Seven Party Politics Explaining Women’s Leadership 167
Eight Can Women Break Through the Political
Glass Ceiling? 203
Concluding Remarks 2 31
Epilogue The 2011 Arab Uprisings: Will a “Women Spring”
Ever Dawn? 239
vi Contents
Annex 1 Questionnaire(s) 2 45
Annex 2 Women in Parliament and Country-Level Indicators
on Development, Political Regimes, and Electoral Systems
in 80 Muslim-Majority and OECD Countries, 2010 2 49
Notes 2 53
Selected Bibliography 2 65
Index 275
G R A P H S A N D T A B L E S
Graphs
6.1 Female Membership by Party Age 134
6.2 Female Membership by Party Religiosity 135
6.3 Female Membership by Party Democratic Practices 136
6.4 Female Membership by Party Pluralism 136
6.5 Female Membership by Party Religiosity, Democracy,
and Pluralism 137
7.1 Female Leadership by Party Age 169
7.2 Female Leadership by Party Religiosity 169
7.3 Female Leadership by Party Democratic Practices 170
7.4 Female Leadership by Party Pluralism 171
7.5 Female Leadership by Party Religiosity, Democracy, and
Pluralism 171
7.6 Female Party Leadership by Membership 188
Tables
1.1 World and Regional Averages: Women in Public
versus Private Sector Leadership, 1995–2010 10
2.1 Cross-National: W omen in Parliament and Country-Level
Indicators on Development, Political Regimes, and
Electoral Systems 44
2.2 Cross-National: Models for Women’s Party Leadership
and Parliamentary Nominations 52
3.1 Arab versus Lebanese Women’s Socioeconomic and
Political Profi les, 2007–2010 58
viii Graphs and Tables
3.2 Lebanon: Female Candidacy for Parliament and
Municipalities 62
4.1 Lebanon: Classifying, Labeling, and Coding 18 Relevant
Parties 82
7.1 Lebanon: Models for Women’s Party Leadership and
Nominations for Public Offi ce 195
8.1 Lebanon: Female Party Nominations for Municipalities
in 2010 and for Parliament in 2009 205
C.1 Summary of Findings 236
P R E F A C E
The 2011 Arab uprisings reignited global interest in the role that reli-
gion, specifically Islam, plays in these countries’ transition to democ racy.
Women stood side-by-side with men in freedom squares as despots were
toppled. However, as Islamists gained electoral power, women conve-
niently disappeared from the political scene. Why and how does the rise
of Islamists and Salafists to power influence women’s legitimate right
to share in leadership, decision-making, governance, and rebuilding
democratic states? The theory of party religiosity and women’s leader-
ship this book advances can explain the frustrations of women following
the outcome of free and fair parliamentary elections in Egypt, Tunisia,
Yemen, and Libya. It explains why Salafists pose a threat for the rollback
of women’s rights in reforming and/or democratizing Arab countries.
The epilogue to this book develops this argument.
Gender inequality is a pervasive global phenomenon in the pub-
lic sphere, and particularly in parliamentary representation. Previous
scholarship sought explanations in country-level development, politi-
cal regimes, and electoral systems or society-level political culture and
dominant religions. This book moves beyond domestic-level analysis to
institutional party-level explanations for women’s political leadership,
especially female representation in parties’ decision-making bodies.
Political parties are the main vehicles—rather forklifts—for women’s
ascendance to leadership positions. This research focuses on interlink-
ages of political parties, institutional religiosity, and women’s party
leadership and nominations to public office. It offers a new theory of
party religiosity to explain variations in women’s leadership across par-
ties and countries.
Party-level characteristics, especially religiosities and secularisms,
influence women’s chances in leadership within parties’ inner struc-
tures. The root of the problematic of women’s leadership lies in party
