Gender Equality

The present policy brief examines three main barriers to women’s political participation in the Arab region, namely the limited application of temporary special measures, discriminatory laws and practices against women in the private and public spheres, and institutional attitudes towards women such as negative views and stereotypes about women’s capabilities in leadership roles. The brief presents best policy practices from Arab countries and globally that have contributed to closing the gaps across these three main dimensions related to women’s political participation. It also offers policy options for Arab Governments using specific country examples from the region to address existing barriers to increasing women’s political participation. It illustrates how these policy options can support countries in improving their performance on international developmental and gender equality indices. This policy brief is the third in a policy briefs series on “the contribution of development indices in closing the gender gap and advancing social and economic development”.