Women’s Representation in Middle Eastern Power Structures During 20th and 21st Centuries (on the Example of Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria and Persian Gulf States)

The participation of women in the public and political life of the countries of the Middle Eastern region is still one of the most controversial and debated topics between experts, analysts, as well as between leaders of the states themselves when forming a fresh government. The main focus of discussions regarding the women's issue is their opportunity to be represented in the power structures of the Middle Eastern and North African countries that, apart from religious prejudices, have serious internal political problems. Among those, for example, are Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Yemen. For many states of the region, the 20th century has become a turning point in history in connection with gaining independence from major Western powers, France and the United Kingdom, in particular. However, subsequently, the Middle East states continued to experience the heavy burden of local conflicts and wars, among which were the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as the Gulf War and the US invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s. A new round of unrest in early 2011, later dubbed the Arab Spring, plunged the region into chaos again, thus undermining all aspects of political and social life, and forced researchers and political scientists to rethink previous approaches and theories, including those linked to the issue of a female participation in key political processes in the Middle East.