Where are the Muslim feminists? Explaining the reconciliation of Islamic beliefs with support for gender equality and sexual freedom among Arab Middle Eastern citizens

A common expectation is that Islamic religiosity negatively impacts people’s support for emancipation in the Middle East and North Africa. Empirically, however, studies show more varied relationships between Islamic religiosity and support for gender equality and sexual freedom. This project’s novel framework theorizes diverse religious socialization processes and also theorizes who might be a ‘Muslim feminist’, deviating from the dominant pattern. Empirically, advanced techniques are applied to 51 MENA surveys, enriched with new macro-level data. The project tests which dimensions of Islamic religiosity affect support for emancipation, and focuses particularly on which citizens reconcile Islamic religiosity with support for emancipation.