Katherine Meyer

The Relationship Between Gender Equality and Democracy: A Comparison of Arab Versus Non-Arab Muslim Societies

Inglehart and Norris argue that the core clash between the Islamic world and the West is over issues concerning gender equality rather than democracy. However, a comparison between Arab and non-Arab Muslim societies is essential before drawing this conclusion. Here, we compared nations from each society and found significant differences in attitudes toward gender equality, democratic governance and religious identities. We analyzed models predicting support for democracy including views toward gender equality in each set of countries. In non-Arab Muslim countries, there were higher levels of support for womens rights, and those who supported gender equality were significantly more likely to support democracy.The reverse was true in the Arab Muslim countries. We argue that for a complete and unbiased form of democracy to emerge in the Arab Middle East, a rule of law that would protect gender equality, minority rights and citizen inclusion would need to be instituted.

Women's Political Rights: Islam, Status and Networks in Kuwait

During the last decade, there have been signs of increased democratization in the Middle East. Yet womens political rights remain limited. In this article we focus on Kuwait, a country representative of how citizenship rights have been gendered in the Middle East. Some Kuwaiti womens groups support expanding womens political rights. This article seeks to determine if they have potential allies in the general population. Using survey data from 1500 Kuwaiti citizens in 1994, we identify potential advocates for extending womens rights by examining social status, social networks, religious identity and Gulf War experiences. We found that organized womens groups have potential allies in Sunni young people and men who belong to voluntary organizations, and Shia young men, older women and those who backed Islamic movements abroad. These groups form a basis for developing a broad base of popular support for expanding the citizenship rights of women.

Diversity in attitudes toward farming and patterns of work among farm women: A regional comparison

Attention to diversity in womens attitudes toward farming and in womens patterns of farm work activity expands our understanding of the linkage between agrarian structure, regional history, and the behavior and values of individual farm women. We combine several disciplinary and methodological approaches to reveal patterns in work and values in a Southern case and then verify the existence of similar patterns in the Midwest. Two divergent conceptions of womens relationship to farm and marital partnership were found in a Georgia study, the agrarian and the industrial, and we explore how they emerged in the context of the political and economic history of the South. We find these marital models are linked today to different patterns of farm work. We then extend the Georgia analysis to a statewide survey of Ohio farm women, where attitudinal diversity is not as marked, due to the stronger agrarian traditions of the Midwest and its distinct political economy. We find similar patterns, however, in Ohio farm womens work and affirm the validity of Carberts categorization of Rosenfelds survey items. Attention to diversity in the work patterns, values, and attitudes of farm women highlights that the term “traditional” is a misnomer when applied to Southern women and reinforces the value of multi-disciplinary approaches and regional comparisons.

Economic hardship, religion and mental health during the midwestern farm crisis

Abstract Macro-level economic decline is usually assumed to affect the mental health of individuals but the process by which this occurs and factors that moderate are still not well understood. This study builds from three bodies of literature to address how economic hardship, religion and psychosocial variables affect mental health outcomes in the context of widespread economic crisis in the farm sector. (Parallels exist with other sectors where plant closings, job loss and unemployment occur.) Differential effects of economic hardship and religion were examined using a sample of 800 Ohio farm men and women who experienced the 1980s Midwestern farm crisis. Findings demonstrated that economic hardship was a consistent predictor of stress and depression for both genders. Membership in Fundamentalist denominations increased mens well-being. Affiliation with any religious group enhanced womens mental health. Physical health and social support were associated with lower stress and depression. Coping techniques had mixed effects on stress and depression with both avoidance/denial and support seeking associated with more adverse mental health outcomes. This study shows that macro-level structural changes can result in a context of economic hardship where factors assumed to buffer adverse mental health outcomes fail to do so and where previously neglected factors, such as religion, become important mediators of hardship.

Restructuring the Rural Farm Economy: Midwestern Women's and Men's Work Roles during the Farm Crisis Period

During the 1980s, the rural economy experienced extensive restructuring, evidenced in the farm crisis and changes in other traditional rural industries. This study focuses on a segment of the rural population particularly affected by these changes: farm women and men in the Midwest. We examine how experiences of farm and broader rural restructuring differ for women and men, resulting in a gendered response to farm and off-farm work participation. The study enables us to address empirical questions raised about womens work patterns during the 1980s. In spite of the farm crisis, the traditional gender division of labor in family-based production changed little. Observed increases in farm womens paid employment were more likely due to longer-term economic changes, coupled with lesser, shorter-term impacts of the crisis. The study underscores the limitations of traditional policy interventions for the farm and rural population and outlines new directions.

HOUSEHOLD, GENDER, AND POLITICAL RESPONSES TO ECONOMIC DOWNTURN:

Although sociologists have given increased attention to political responses of populations experiencing economic restructuring, existing research remains conceptually limited. Building upon resource mobilization theory and longstanding structural approaches, we extend the conceptual discourse of mobilization by considering alternative bases of action involving the household and its gendered relationships. We provide an empirical example using data from a twelve-state midwestern sample of farm couples during the 1980s farm crisis. In addition to predictors outlined by conventional structural mobilization frameworks, we find that political socialization between spouses (an alternative, generally unexplored base of political action) is an important determinant of action. Relative to men, women tend to exert a more radicalizing political influence on their spouses.

International Rentierism in the Middle East Africa, 1971–2008:

What is the trend in rentierism in the Middle East and North Africa? Defining a rentier state as one that extracts a significant share of its revenues from rents extracted from international transactions, we examine a range of such transactions that together constitute a third or more of the Middle East/North Africa economies. Outlining a rentierism index that is based on the share of GDP stemming from oil/mineral exports, foreign military and economic aid, worker remittances, and international tourism, we show that rentierism is growing and that 18 of the 22 Middle East/North Africa states depend for over a third of their GDP on these international transactions. Some depend on direct rents stemming from oil/mineral exports and foreign aid, while others rely increasingly on indirect rents from remittances and tourism. This split between direct and indirect rents has implications for the political stability of these states, because it creates states that are more or less able to maintain control in the face of popular resistance and insurgency.

Religious Noncoercive and Coercive Regulations: A New Typology for Cross-National Research

This article aims to increase our understanding of governmental regulations on the practice of religion by majority and minority religious groups in the Middle East from 1990 to 2002. We utilize data from the Religion and State project (Fox 2003) to examine the breadth and severity of religious regulations, control, and support across newly created categories that measure the types of regulations placed on religious groups. We also examine the change in governmental regulations toward religion. We begin the analysis by looking at the overall breadth and severity of regulation in the Middle East, and examine changes in religious control and support during the twelve-year period. Findings demonstrate the utility of our categories for understanding religious regulations in the Middle East from 1990 to 2002, and show that where changes did occur, governments tightened the rules on religious groups.

Youth at a Leftist and Rightist Political Rally: Reasons for Participating

Abstract This paper investigates the degree of uniqueness of the contribution of youth to an anti-war rally of 1970. It contrasts that contribution to the part played by youth at a pro-war rally of the same year. Both rallies took place near the Washington Monument in Washington, D. C. Data collection consisted of on-the-spot interviews of a sample of participants at both rallies. The focus of the interview was on reasons expressed by participants for their attendance at the rally. The data support the following hypotheses: that youth at the anti-war rally were more highly oriented towards specific objectives and general objectives than were older participants at that rally or youthful ones at the pro-war rally; that youth at the anti-war rally were less highly oriented towards personal reasons than older participants at that rally or younger ones at the pro-war rally. Generally reasons for participating were found to be influenced by the interaction of age cohort and ideological thrust of the rally. The ...

Farm Power without Farmers

As Americas small farmers dwindle to a precious few, they remain national icons with broad public support and impressive political clout. This paradox highlights the economic, political, and symbolic power of farming in the United States, all of which may not suffice to save family farms.