Gender equality continues to be elusive in many parts of life in countries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Although there is widespread support for women enjoying equal rights, there has been some retrenchment on these issues in recent years. Even greater declines are found when looking at support for women having equal roles in public and private life, which were already less favored than equal rights. A significant part of these views may be tied to women’s employment.

Breaking with the previous trend of improving views on gender equality, we now find an increase in support for patriarchal norms in both the private and public spheres compared to Arab Barometer’s last survey in 2021-2022.