Structural Challenges and the Necessity of Reconstructing the System for the Protection of Women’s Rights in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf

Abstract

Women constitute half of the world’s population, and their enjoyment of fundamental rights is considered an essential component of justice, human dignity, and sustainable development. Nevertheless, the legal and social status of women varies across countries, particularly in the Middle East, and is shaped by a complex and interconnected set of political, economic, cultural, legal, and institutional factors. The present study aims to comparatively examine and analyze the structural challenges confronting the protection of women’s rights in seven Arab states surrounding the Persian Gulf: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This study adopts a comparative review design and draws on Persian-, Arabic-, and English-language sources to identify, categorize, and synthesize the findings of previous research on women’s rights. The analytical framework is structured around three levels: “rights and laws,” “institutions and enforcement mechanisms,” and the “sociocultural context.” The literature review indicates that the principal challenge in the countries under study is not merely the absence of protective legislation, but rather the profound gap among “recognized rights,” “enforceable rights,” and “realized rights.” This gap stems from factors such as weak enforcement mechanisms, incomplete judicial independence, women’s economic dependence, the persistence of patriarchal norms, constraints on effective political participation, and discrepancies between international obligations and domestic law. Restrictive interpretations of Sharia and the weakening of civil society institutions further intensify these challenges. Legislative reform alone is insufficient to improve the status of women. Reconstructing the system for the protection of women’s rights in these countries requires an integrated and multilevel approach that simultaneously encompasses legal reform, the strengthening of executive and judicial institutions, the economic and political empowerment of women, and the gradual transformation of cultural attitudes. The model proposed in this study emphasizes a transition from a merely “legislative” approach to an “institutional–social–legal” approach, in which law, institutions, enforcement, and culture operate as interconnected elements that collectively safeguard women’s dignity, equality, and effective participation.