TY - JOUR
AU - Martin, Justin D
AB - ABSTRACT While institutional support is growing for women in leadership positions across the Arab world, little is known about how rising numbers of women in roles of authority and expertise are being perceived. We examine how general theories of gender bias fit new data from a survey experiment spanning nationally representative samples in five Arab countries. The experiment captured how citizens judge women who adopt the stereotypically masculine role of a “hard-news” journalist. Results challenge conventional wisdom about the prevalence of classic sexism—a generalized antipathy toward women consistent with traditional definitions of prejudice. Instead, we find considerable support for ambivalent sexism, a more nuanced theory positing pro-male (hostile) as well as pro-female (benevolent) biases both detrimental to gender equality and requiring distinctive strategies to address. Although tentative, the findings also make a theoretical contribution suggesting that modernization processes may reverse gender biases, replacing classic patriarchy with so-called benevolent sexism rather than true gender-egalitarianism. Si bien el apoyo institucional a las mujeres en puestos de liderazgo está creciendo en el mundo árabe, poco se conoce acerca de cómo se perciben los números crecientes de mujeres en posiciones de autoridad y experiencia. Examinamos la manera en que las teorías generales de prejuicios de género se adaptan a los nuevos datos de una encuesta que abarca muestras representativas a nivel nacional en cinco países árabes. El experimento captó cómo los ciudadanos juzgan a las mujeres que adoptan el rol estereotípicamente masculino de periodistas de noticias duras. Los resultados desafían al conocimiento convencional acerca de la prevalencia del sexismo clásico, una antipatía generalizada hacia las mujeres que coincide con las definiciones tradicionales de prejuicio. En cambio, encontramos un apoyo considerable al sexismo ambivalente, una teoría más matizada que supone que los sesgos tanto en favor de los valores (hostiles) como en favor de las mujeres (benevolentes) son perjudiciales para la igualdad de género y requieren estrategias distintivas que abordar. A pesar de ser tentativos, los descubrimientos también hacen una contribución teórica que sugiere que los procesos de modernización pueden revertir los prejuicios de género, reemplazando el patriarcado clásico por el sexismo denominado “benevolente” en lugar de un verdadero igualitarismo de género. Bien que les institutions soutiennent de plus en plus les femmes pour qu'elles occupent des postes de direction dans le monde arabe, nous ne savons que peu de choses sur la manière dont les nombres croissants de femmes endossant des rôles de pouvoir et d'expertise sont perçus. Nous examinons la mesure dans laquelle les théories générales sur les préjugés de genre conviennent pour les nouvelles données d'une enquête expérimentale portant sur des échantillons nationalement représentatifs issus de cinq pays arabes. Cette enquête expérimentale a permis de saisir la manière dont les citoyens jugeaient les femmes adoptant un rôle stéréotypiquement masculin de journaliste traitant « d'informations sérieuses ». Les résultats remettent en question les idées reçues sur la prévalence du sexisme classique, une antipathie généralisée envers les femmes conforme aux définitions traditionnelles des préjugés. Au lieu de cela, nous avons constaté un soutien considérable d'un sexisme ambivalent, une théorie plus nuancée émettant le postulat que les partis pris pro-masculins (hostiles) ainsi que les partis pris pro-féminins (bienveillants) allaient tous deux au détriment de l’égalité des genres et qu'ils exigeaient des stratégies distinctives de traitement. Bien que ces résultats n'offrent qu'un début de réponse, ils apportent une contribution théorique suggérant que les processus de modernisation pouvaient inverser les préjugés de genre en remplaçant le patriarcat classique par un sexisme prétendument « bienveillant » plutôt que par un véritable égalitarisme des genres. Women in leadership and other influential positions often face challenges, ranging from outright hostility to more subtle forms of gender bias.1 Many challenges are now better understood, and in the Arab world, institutional support is growing to facilitate women's involvement in positions of leadership, authority, and expertise. Although controversial, over half of Arab countries have adopted electoral gender quotas, especially post-Arab Spring (Dahlerup 2009; Benstead 2016; Tripp 2019). Support is also growing via appointments to top ministerial positions and expanded educational and working opportunities, with women outpacing men in education in much of the region (Ridge 2014). Yet such efforts raise an important question: how are growing numbers of Arab women in influential positions actually perceived by the populace? On the one hand, and generally speaking, women's lesser status in the Arab world is often said to be driven by classic sexism. This would suggest disapproval for or even outright hostility directed at women in such roles. Indeed, in a provocative Foreign Affairs piece, Inglehart and Norris (2003b) argued that the “true clash of civilizations” across the Muslim world and the West does not hinge on support for democracy, but rather on profoundly different attitudes toward gender equality. They and others highlight substantial popular support for classically patriarchal values in Muslim-majority countries, especially Arab-Muslim states (Inglehart and Norris 2003a; Donno and Russett 2004; Rizzo et al. 2007; Alexander and Welzel 2011; Fish 2011). In activist Mona Eltahawy's words, “There is no sugarcoating it. We Arab women live in a culture that is fundamentally hostile to us, enforced by men's contempt” (2015, 3–4). At the same time, a growing literature highlights the complexities of gender bias. Some studies continue to find evidence of classic sexism, as when US science faculty rated a female applicant for a leadership position in laboratory management as significantly less competent than a male one despite identical applications (Moss-Racusin et al. 2012). Yet others suggest sexism may be more hidden, contingent, and/or ambivalent than is typically assumed (e.g., Bauer 2015; Teele et al. 2018; Barnes et al. 2020). For example, people may appear to accept women in stereotypically male positions of authority and expertise, but only when they are “nice” in accordance with gender trait stereotypes (Rudman 1998; Okimoto and Brescoll 2010). While survey and experimental work has long addressed the nuances of gender bias in the United States (Rudman and Glick 2012), similar work on nationally representative samples in the Middle East remains comparatively rare, even as gender in the region is a much-studied issue of broad interdisciplinary interest. As a result, despite consensus about the presence of gender bias across a variety of domains—and the need to address it—there is less clarity about its drivers, mechanisms, and scope (Benstead et al. 2015; Masoud et al. 2016). Among many unanswered questions is whether gender bias toward women in influential positions is best understood as classic prejudice—that is, hostility and antipathy toward women (Allport 1954)—or whether it may function in more contextual and ambivalent ways (Glick et al. 2000). To help answer these questions, this paper assesses the extent to which general theories of gender bias fit data from a survey experiment spanning nationally representative samples in five Arab countries—Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The experiment investigates how citizens judge women's credibility as “hard-news” journalists—a stereotypically masculine role. By selecting a nontraditional yet influential context for a working woman, we adopt the logic of “most likely” case designs (Eckstein 2000) so that if gender biases are present, we should be especially likely to observe them. This allows us to test hypotheses about the nature and extent of bias that may appear and factors moderating it. After providing identical hard-news stories—differing only in the gender of the journalist reporting on them—we measured respondents’ assessments of the journalist's credibility along dimensions of expertise, conscientiousness, and trustworthiness. To be clear, the broad question motivating this research is not “Does gender bias exist?” nor is it “Why is there gender bias?” in these countries, but rather “Which theories best align with the type and scope of gender bias observed?” An expansive literature testifies to the general existence of gender bias in the Arab world, and so does the daily experience of women living in that region, as elsewhere.2 Women face challenges at all levels from harassment and domestic abuse to limitations on sexual and reproductive autonomy and the ability to work and move freely. Our specific focus here is the gender biases facing women in influential positions, within news media in particular, for two main reasons. First, like members of other underrepresented groups, women in visibly leading positions are critical role models, encouraging their normalization as legitimate sources of expertise and authority (Morgenroth et al. 2015). Second, the media is an especially important venue for counterstereotyping with potential for broad downstream impact (Olsson and Martiny 2018). It influences how citizens interpret social and political life, and as feminist and media theorists have argued for decades (Tuchman 1978), if women are largely absent from these daily narratives, or trivialized, then norms of exclusion are likely to persist. Studies often find that women in politics (Kahn 1992; Kittilson and Fridkin 2008), activism (Ashley and Olson 1998), and business (Baker et al. 1997) receive less coverage than men, or more negative coverage. At the same time, more women in newsrooms can reduce media sexism (Kim and Yoon 2009; Skalli 2011), and women highlighted as experts and commentators—like the women in our experimental vignettes—are especially important. In a recent global study, lower media sexism, particularly the share of all news subjects portrayed in the function of experts who are women, was associated with higher shares of female candidates for parliaments, likely by stimulating women's political ambition (Haraldsson and Wängnerud 2019). Our own results are striking. To preview them, we found very limited evidence of classic sexism across the five countries. The women in our scenarios, despite flouting gender role expectations, were not viewed as significantly less credible overall in their hard-news reporting. We also find limited demographic evidence for modernization theory, which despite many challenges remains the dominant approach to understanding gender bias in the region (Benstead et al. 2015). In fact, the evidence overall aligned best with ambivalent sexism, a theory proposing “hostile” (pro-male) as well as “benevolent” (pro-female) biases, both of which may promote gender inequalities (Glick et al. 2000). Indeed, we found more evidence for “benevolent” or pro-female biases than pro-male ones. By highlighting such “pro-female” biases, we do not mean to suggest that women enjoy advantages in Arab news media or any other sector. Such biases can be at least as challenging as pro-male ones, especially due to greater subtlety. Survey evidence from Jordan and Tunisia, for example, suggests that stereotypes about women being less corruptible (a pro-female bias) do not necessarily help women at the polls, and may be detrimental (Benstead and Lust 2018). Both types of bias may help fuel patterns of economic rigidity, social exclusion, and political marginalization (Glick et al. 2000). Overall, the research makes three main contributions. First, we offer experimental evidence on gender bias from a variety of Arab countries, focusing on the hard-news sector. A survey experiment conducted with nationally representative samples in five countries is rare, and it allows broader conclusions than are typical in experimental work (Mutz 2011). Second, while recognizing the many challenges faced by women in their everyday lives, our findings cast doubt on broad generalizations about the Arab world as classically sexist, instead highlighting ambivalent aspects of gender bias. We particularly emphasize the prevalence of benevolent sexism in our data, which may necessitate differing strategies to address. Finally, we make a theoretical contribution suggesting that modernization processes may succeed in dampening classic patriarchy, yet simultaneously reinforce benevolent sexist biases, perhaps as a consequence of elite and often authoritarian government-driven efforts to empower women (Donno and Kreft 2019; Tripp 2019). Theory and Hypotheses How do different theories conceive of gender bias toward women in leading roles, and what do they predict about the type and scope of this bias in Arab countries? Here we discuss several key theoretical traditions, aiming to highlight important differences between “classic” and “ambivalent” sexism with respect to types of bias. Our goal is to elucidate what hypotheses for our survey experiment flow from these traditions, and thus we focus particularly on what theories predict about how people are likely to judge women as sources of authority and expertise—a nontraditional and often stereotypically masculine role (Schein et al. 1996). We then consider more nuanced hypotheses about scope and demographic variation, drawing from theories of modernization, role congruity, and social identity following Benstead et al. (2015). For ease of reference, table 1 summarizes expectations by theory. Table 1. Theoretical expectations General theories . Hypotheses . Classic sexism Across-the-board bias favoring men in stereotypically male roles; hence, the female hard-news journalist will be viewed as less credible on all credibility dimensions. Ambivalent sexism Combination of benevolent and hostile sexism based on trait stereotypes; hence, the female hard-news journalist will be viewed as more credible on stereotypically female traits (trustworthiness and conscientiousness), but less credible on expertise—a stereotypically male trait. Variation in sexist attitudes Modernization Wealthier, better educated, and younger respondents will display greater gender egalitarianism. Role congruity Respondents in countries in which women play larger roles in the news media sector will display greater gender egalitarianism. Social identity Female respondents will view the female hard-news journalist as more credible and male respondents will view the male journalist as more credible. System justification Female respondents will view the male journalist as more credible, potentially more so than male respondents. General theories . Hypotheses . Classic sexism Across-the-board bias favoring men in stereotypically male roles; hence, the female hard-news journalist will be viewed as less credible on all credibility dimensions. Ambivalent sexism Combination of benevolent and hostile sexism based on trait stereotypes; hence, the female hard-news journalist will be viewed as more credible on stereotypically female traits (trustworthiness and conscientiousness), but less credible on expertise—a stereotypically male trait. Variation in sexist attitudes Modernization Wealthier, better educated, and younger respondents will display greater gender egalitarianism. Role congruity Respondents in countries in which women play larger roles in the news media sector will display greater gender egalitarianism. Social identity Female respondents will view the female hard-news journalist as more credible and male respondents will view the male journalist as more credible. System justification Female respondents will view the male journalist as more credible, potentially more so than male respondents. Open in new tab Table 1. Theoretical expectations General theories . Hypotheses . Classic sexism Across-the-board bias favoring men in stereotypically male roles; hence, the female hard-news journalist will be viewed as less credible on all credibility dimensions. Ambivalent sexism Combination of benevolent and hostile sexism based on trait stereotypes; hence, the female hard-news journalist will be viewed as more credible on stereotypically female traits (trustworthiness and conscientiousness), but less credible on expertise—a stereotypically male trait. Variation in sexist attitudes Modernization Wealthier, better educated, and younger respondents will display greater gender egalitarianism. Role congruity Respondents in countries in which women play larger roles in the news media sector will display greater gender egalitarianism. Social identity Female respondents will view the female hard-news journalist as more credible and male respondents will view the male journalist as more credible. System justification Female respondents will view the male journalist as more credible, potentially more so than male respondents. General theories . Hypotheses . Classic sexism Across-the-board bias favoring men in stereotypically male roles; hence, the female hard-news journalist will be viewed as less credible on all credibility dimensions. Ambivalent sexism Combination of benevolent and hostile sexism based on trait stereotypes; hence, the female hard-news journalist will be viewed as more credible on stereotypically female traits (trustworthiness and conscientiousness), but less credible on expertise—a stereotypically male trait. Variation in sexist attitudes Modernization Wealthier, better educated, and younger respondents will display greater gender egalitarianism. Role congruity Respondents in countries in which women play larger roles in the news media sector will display greater gender egalitarianism. Social identity Female respondents will view the female hard-news journalist as more credible and male respondents will view the male journalist as more credible. System justification Female respondents will view the male journalist as more credible, potentially more so than male respondents. Open in new tab Classic Sexism One perspective is rooted in Allport's classic definition of prejudice as antipathy. It is clearly reflected in Eltahawy's view, quoted earlier, that Arab women “live in a culture that is fundamentally hostile to them, enforced by men's contempt.” In The Nature of Prejudice, Allport defined prejudice as “an antipathy based upon a faulty and inflexible generalization,” from which arise discriminatory acts in law and social practice disadvantaging the target group (Allport 1954, 9). In most countries, women are disadvantaged, typically earning less than men and occupying a small percentage of the most powerful roles in society, such as political and business leadership. Yet in many Arab countries, women are particularly disadvantaged, so it is not surprising that activists such as Eltahawy should conclude that Arab attitudes toward women, in general, must be fundamentally hostile.3 In classic sexism, women are viewed as “less,” and frowned upon when they challenge traditional norms—such as when they take on stereotypically masculine roles for which they are seen as ill-suited. Thus, with reference to our experiment, a woman working as a hard-news journalist should be viewed overall as less credible and competent compared to a man, in terms of expertise, trustworthiness, and conscientiousness. This represents a generalized “backlash” effect triggered by women overstepping their prescribed roles (Rudman 1998). As such, classic sexism emphasizes the rigidity of gender role stereotypes and the relegation of women to family and private spheres. It also aligns in part with Kandiyoti's model of “classic patriarchy,” which stresses women's seclusion and the devaluation of their labor (Kandiyoti 1988). While patriarchy is a multidimensional concept interpreted in different ways (Benstead 2020), Kandiyoti associates “classic patriarchy” with areas of the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia—the “patriarchal belt” (Caldwell 1978)—and contrasts it with more flexible variants in sub-Saharan Africa where women, while still generally subordinate to men, carved out areas of relative autonomy due to differing economic conditions. In short, classic sexism predicts a pure backlash effect in response to women who transgress gender role stereotypes. Ambivalent Sexism Ambivalent sexism challenges the traditional view of prejudice as antipathy alone (Glick et al. 2000). It draws from research on the “women-are-wonderful” effect, which finds that even though women are generally disadvantaged, gender trait stereotypes about women are sometimes more favorable than are gender trait stereotypes about men (Eagly and Mladinic 1994). Thus, far from generalized hostility, women may be viewed as “wonderful” creatures—albeit in gender-stereotyped ways such as warmth and communality that may be equally restrictive.4 Ambivalent sexism theory posits both “hostile” and “benevolent” forms of sexism rooted in gender trait stereotypes. The former refers to negative bias toward women and the latter refers to positive bias. Despite the language of benevolence, benevolent sexism is not viewed as normatively good: indeed, it is “fundamentally anti-egalitarian” (Glick and Fiske 2011, 533). It is a form of sexist prejudice, belying its ostensibly pro-female character, which can also restrict women's opportunities and promote broader gender inequalities, and one that may be embraced by women as well as men. For instance, Glick et al. (2000) find that in countries where men exhibit a strong hostile sexist bias, women often embrace benevolent sexist stereotypes about themselves, likely for reasons of self-protection. A growing literature also shows that hostile and benevolent sexism can have different implications, suggesting the need for distinctive responses. For example, Cassese and Holman (2019) find that a campaign attack in 2016 accusing Hillary Clinton of “playing the woman's card” was associated with less support for her among hostile sexists, but among benevolent ones, support increased. In addition, Barnes et al. (2020) find that hostile sexists (and not benevolent ones) punish female politicians more than males for sex scandals. Benevolent sexism is less likely to be perceived as sexism per se (Barreto and Ellemers 2005). Yet, more so than hostile sexism, it is linked to lessened support for women's reproductive rights (Huang et al. 2014) and sexual autonomy (Sakalh-Uğurlu and Glick 2003); a greater tendency to blame female victims in cases of rape and domestic violence (Viki and Abrams 2002; Abrams et al. 2003); and lower cognitive performance among women when exposed to it in experimental studies (Dardenne et al. 2007). Some argue that hostile sexism is more likely to constrain women in the public sphere—that is, reinforce “public” patriarchy (Walby 1990)—due to a focus on maintaining men's overall power. Benevolent sexism, with its heightened sensitivity to violations of specific gender norms such as women's purity, may be more likely to undermine women in the private sphere, reinforcing “private” patriarchy (Masser and Abrams 2004). Research on gender and politics in the Middle East, although not explicitly linked to this tradition, also underscores potentially negative consequences of benevolent sexism, especially when embedded into state structures and national myths (Joseph 2000; Al-Rasheed 2013; Moghadam 2013). For example, state feminism (e.g., Hatem 1992) may have empowered women through public employment and political representation, yet left them vulnerable to “private” patriarchy via family and personal status laws (Sadiqi 2008). Studies in feminist peace and security, particularly the “women and peace” hypothesis drawing from Middle Eastern experiences, also show how gender role stereotypes may influence controversial assumptions about women's greater orientation toward peace and compromise (Tessler et al. 1999; Maoz 2009; Aharoni 2017). To summarize, while classic sexism privileges gender role stereotypes, predicting that women in stereotypically masculine roles will be judged negatively across the board, ambivalent sexism predicts a combination of hostile and benevolent sexism in line with gender trait stereotypes. Accordingly, women who take on stereotypically masculine roles are not universally punished; instead, they may be viewed as “wonderful,” but only in stereotypically feminine ways. In our survey experiment, ambivalent sexism predicts that the female hard-news journalist will be seen as superior in stereotypically female ways (e.g., more conscientious, trustworthy) yet inferior in stereotypically male ones (e.g., less knowledgeable). Variation in Sexist Attitudes We turn now to questions of scope. How is gender bias likely to vary across countries and individuals? Several theories suggest answers to these questions. We focus here on modernization, due to its central historical role in research on the Middle East, but we also discuss role congruity, social identity, and system justification. Modernization Although frequently challenged, modernization arguably remains the dominant theory of variation in gender attitudes in the region (Benstead, Jamal, and Lust 2015). In the parlance of the theory, anti-female bias reflects the more “traditional” cultures associated with less “modernized” societies and social groups, which are typically defined as poorer or lower in human development (Stockemer and Sundström 2016). As Inglehart and Norris (2003a, 17) argue, “Within any given society, postmodern values of gender equality will be most evident among the most secure, that is, the wealthier, better-educated sectors of the public. The less secure strata will prove more traditional in their attitudes toward women.” They also expect younger people to prove less traditional compared to older people due to socioeconomic changes over time, and that both men and women in “traditional” societies will support patriarchal norms. To test these hypotheses, we investigate potential interaction effects between demographic characteristics and levels of gender bias across the outcome variables in our experiment. Cross-nationally, if we follow convention by defining modernization in terms of country-level income and human development ratings (Stockemer and Sundström 2016), then the theory predicts that we will see less gender bias in the rich Gulf countries compared to the rest in our sample. Importantly, however, Ross (2012) has developed a variant on modernization theory suggesting that Gulf countries are exceptions to the rule, due to resource wealth. The reasoning is that resource-driven economic development tends to limit female labor market participation, dampening women's political influence and thus leaving classic patriarchy intact in terms of attitudes, laws, and social practices. In short, “petroleum perpetuates patriarchy.” By this account, the Gulf countries will be associated with more gender bias. We consider both possibilities. Role Congruity Role congruity theory suggests that gender bias results from incongruities across gender role stereotypes and other social role stereotypes (Eagly and Karau 2002). Thus, even in highly modernized societies, or among highly modernized individuals, we should expect pro-male bias to arise when stereotypes about women do not reflect the attributes thought required for success in certain social roles. The degree of perceived incongruity depends on a variety of social, political, and historical factors. With reference to our survey experiment, the theory suggests that in countries where women are more active in the political news sector—discussed in more detail in the next section—women's presence there should be viewed as less incongruous, regardless of the society's overall level of modernization, and thus we should observe less anti-female gender bias. Social Identity Social identity theory predicts gender-based solidarity or in-group favoritism, due to evidence suggesting that people think in terms of in-groups and outgroups favoring the former and/or denigrating the latter (Tajfel 1982). The anticipated effect is well-known in credibility research. As Lupia (2002, 56) observes, “it is widely taken for granted that conservatives tend to find other conservatives’ cues more credible, that African Americans tend to find other African American elites more credible, and so on.” Thus, social identity predicts that female respondents will display a pro-female bias and male respondents will display a pro-male one. System Justification Finally, we consider system justification theory (Jost et al. 2004), which suggests that members of subordinate groups often adopt—somewhat paradoxically—the system-justifying ideologies of dominant groups, internalizing them even at the expense of their own self-interest. System justification does not imply normative acceptance of the status quo; rather, and for disadvantaged groups in particular, it plays a psychologically palliative role for coping purposes, as when people rationalize staying in harmful relationships. Men are higher status members of society across much of the Arab world, and especially so in classically patriarchal political systems such as Saudi Arabia. As a result, system justification predicts that female respondents will be particularly deferential toward the male journalist, potentially even more so than men. Media and Gender Bias Our aim was to test theories about the dynamics and scope of gender bias, with a focus on challenges that women face when they take on stereotypically masculine roles of expertise and authority. Our experiment is thus designed around a visible and influential sector—hard-news journalism—that is more commonly associated with men than women. In selecting it, we drew from the logic of a “most likely” case (Eckstein 2000), aiming specifically to create a scenario in which theory predicts gender bias should arise, if it exists, so that we could then test hypotheses about type and scope. Numerous studies find that hard-news journalism is, in general, a domain more associated with men than women, in which men are viewed as more credible (Blue 1981; Johnson 1987; Cann and Mohr 2001; Weibel et al. 2008; Brann and Himes 2010; Ross and Carter 2011). According to the Global Media Monitoring Project, which reports every five years on gender gaps in news media, political and crime news continue to be the topics least reported by women, and the greatest gain for women has been in “soft news” reporting, such as celebrity, arts, and entertainment (Macharia 2015). Only 31 percent of stories on politics and 33 percent of stories on crime and violence are reported by women globally. In the Middle East, evidence suggests political journalism is especially male-dominated (Sakr 2002; El Imam 2012; Mellor 2013; CAWTAR 2015; Dashti and Mesbah 2016; Melki and Mallat 2016; Rezaian 2017; Khamis 2019; Oueiss 2020; Wharton Kaye-Essien and Ismail 2020). According to Melki and Mallat (2016, 57), “men in Arab news significantly outnumber women,” especially when it comes to management positions. A table we constructed from publicly available information about gender composition in leadership across a sample of Arab media organizations supports that assessment (online appendix E). While the table is not comprehensive, given limited comparative data, it is certainly illustrative of women's underrepresentation. Indeed, Al-Malki et al. (2012, 17) emphasize the “overall problem of female invisibility” in Arab media, despite country differences and some female-oriented niche programming. In Tunisia, some evidence suggests greater openness to women in political journalism (Macharia 2015), perhaps not surprisingly given the country's longer history of support for women's rights (Charrad 2001). Evidence also points to lower levels of anti-female bias in Lebanon (Mellor 2013, 82). Even so, a global report on women in news media including data from Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan still found that Lebanese news companies employed twice as many men as women (Byerly 2011). The same ratio was true for Moroccan news media. In Jordan, the study found that men outnumbered women by almost 5:1. A more recent study on Jordan suggests some improvement, reporting a ratio of 3:1, but still finds that women “have almost no presence in leadership positions” (Zaideh 2018, 6). In Egypt, while women were better represented overall, they still occupied only 12.5 percent of leadership positions in the news media surveyed in the global report, and a more recent study confirms their marginalization (Wharton Kaye-Essien and Ismail 2020). The Gulf monarchies, which make up three of the five case studies in our present work, have been particularly “male-dominated” in the journalism and media sector (Mellor 2010, 216; 2013, 2019). For example, over a two-decade period of study (1996–2015) in Kuwait, the percentage of registered women journalists has remained at 14 percent (Dashti and Mesbah 2016, 282). For those women in the Gulf who attain leadership positions, obstacles persist, as detailed in Al-Markhan's (2010) case study of fourteen female media leaders in Saudi Arabia. Even so, Qatar has built a powerful media empire (Lynch 2006) in which women are playing a growing role (Al-Mannai 2014); women make up one-third of all journalists (Kirat 2016) and Northwestern University's Qatar campus grants an undergraduate degree in journalism to a student body that is approximately 70 percent female. Despite such initiatives, though, Qatar's local and international media remain male-dominated: for example, the Al Jazeera Media Network employs one female managing director out of eleven and two female bureau chiefs out of a total of twenty-three.5 With respect to news topics, Mellor (2019) finds that Arab female journalists are more likely to cover entertainment and fashion, and less likely to cover politics, particularly corruption. This finding is corroborated by Bosnan (2018), whose examination of the work of female journalists in three prominent newspapers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia found they tended to write about culture, families, and the arts. Likewise, Lamhedi (2018) found a shortage of women appearing as experts on Arabic-language TV talk shows in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. In general, research on Arab media finds that women are more likely to be featured as victims than experts (Lamhedi 2018, 2019), and the evidence collectively suggests that Arab news remains stereotypically masculine. Experimental Design and Dependent Variables Respondents were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups. While all respondents were read a scenario about a journalist covering a political news issue, the journalist was described as a male in one scenario and a female in the other. The issue featured in the news story was corruption and the journalist was described as providing an overview of the situation and recommendations for improvement.6 Importantly, the scenarios and news stories were identical except for one factor—the gender of the journalist. By helping isolate the effects of a single attribute, this approach aligns with a long tradition of vignette and factorial survey designs in the study of social judgment (C. S. Alexander and Becker 1978; Rossi and Anderson 1982). It has several strengths, including significant internal validity compared to observational research, as well as being more engaging to respondents than regular survey questions (Steiner et al. 2016). Nationally representative samples also offer considerable gains in external validity (Mutz 2011). Recent work suggests that vignette-type survey experiments with nationally representative samples can match the effects uncovered in real-world decision tasks and social interactions (Miles and Crisp 2014; Hainmueller et al. 2015). For example, Hainmueller et al. (2015) found that vignette approaches assessing the effects of specific attributes on social judgments were generally quite effective at recovering the “true” effects of the same attributes from a real-world behavioral benchmark when citizens in Swiss municipalities used referendums to decide on the citizenship applications of foreign residents. Nevertheless, the approach is not without limitations, including some loss of control. Exposure to a brief scenario described by the interviewer is less direct compared to actual presentations by male or female journalists in a controlled laboratory setting, potentially weakening the stimulus and reducing the chances of detecting gender bias. In our case, laboratory settings were not feasible, but we consider their use a valuable direction for future work. After hearing the scenario, respondents were asked their assessments of the journalist's credibility. Drawing from prior work on source credibility, we measured three dependent variables: expertise, trustworthiness, and cares (Hovland et al. 1953; Berlo et al. 1969; McCroskey and Young 1981; McCroskey and Teven 1999; Flanagin and Metzger 2003). Conceptually, the first taps perceptions of the journalist's knowledge about the topic, the second assesses whether respondents think the journalist is presenting a fair and unbiased report, and the last assesses perceptions of the journalist's conscientiousness or level of concern about the issue. The dependent variables were measured with Likert items on a five-point scale (from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). For expertise, the item was “I expect he/she does not know very much about this issue” (reverse-scored in our analysis, so that higher scores indicate higher perceived expertise). For trustworthiness, the item was “I expect he/she is reporting about this issue in a truthful, unbiased way.” For cares, it was “I expect he/she cares strongly about this issue.” The items were not combined into a single index because findings about bias on each item can provide evidence for or against different theories of gender bias—most importantly, classic versus ambivalent sexism. To reiterate, and as shown in table 1, classic sexism predicts a generalized backlash—that is, pro-male bias across the board due to the stereotypically masculine nature of the hard-news sector. The male journalist should thus be seen as more expert, more trustworthy, and more inclined to care about the issue. By contrast, ambivalent sexism predicts a mixture of hostile and benevolent sexism, reflecting gender trait stereotypes of men as more knowledgeable and competent and women as more caring, conscientious, and ethical. If we find that the male journalist is viewed as more expert—a hostile sexist stereotype—while the female journalist is seen as more trustworthy or caring—benevolent sexist stereotypes—then we will have evidence of ambivalent sexism. Data Collection The experiment was embedded in an omnibus survey of media use and attitudes toward media, conducted in five countries.7 It was administered in 2017 to multistage, random-probability samples. Both citizens and expatriates were included, though our analysis includes only citizens (n = 3,156) given our focus on gender attitudes within Arab culture. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews in all countries (except Qatar, where phone interviews were conducted through random-digit dialing). Response rates were generally robust. (See online appendix A for details.) Rim weighting was used to enhance representativeness of collected samples, and weight factors were as follows: Lebanon: age, geography; Qatar: gender and age by nationality, geography; Saudi Arabia: gender and age by nationality, geography; Tunisia: gender by nationality, age, geography; and UAE: gender by age and nationality, geography. The samples excluded some population subgroups, where applicable in a given country, including nonresidents, farmers, mentally disabled, people living in military housing, medical institutions, college dorms, jails, or work camps. In Qatar, where surveys were conducted by phone instead of face-to-face interviews, some members of these groups were included if they were able to complete the interview in Arabic or English. Results and Discussion We begin by analyzing experimental results at the aggregate level before moving to country-level findings and demographic trends. As expected, the two experimental groups were well balanced across a range of demographic and other applicable variables, including age, gender, conservative/progressive ideology, religiosity, employment status, and interviewer gender (online appendix A). Those randomly assigned to the female journalist condition (n = 1,434) were somewhat more educated and frequent consumers of political news than those in the male journalist condition (n = 1,722). While these are statistically significant differences, they may have occurred by chance (Mutz et al. 2018). As such, we analyze simple mean differences in our dependent variables across the two experimental groups, which are unbiased estimators of average treatment effects in the Neyman–Rubin causal model. Figures 1–7 report the main results that bear on the theories and that were statistically significant. Error bars indicate +/− 1 standard error of the mean and online appendix F provides detailed statistics. We also examine our experimental results in the context of regression analysis that includes an indicator for experimental group (1 = female journalist condition, 0 = male journalist condition). Regression results (reported in online appendix D) allow us to consider the extent to which experimental results are robust to the inclusion of relevant covariates related to credibility judgments. Figure 1. Open in new tabDownload slide Benevolent sexism among men in five countries. Figure 1. Open in new tabDownload slide Benevolent sexism among men in five countries. Figure 2. Open in new tabDownload slide Hostile sexism among Gulf men. Figure 2. Open in new tabDownload slide Hostile sexism among Gulf men. Figure 3. Open in new tabDownload slide Ambivalent sexism among Saudi men. Figure 3. Open in new tabDownload slide Ambivalent sexism among Saudi men. Figure 4. Open in new tabDownload slide Saudi men versus Saudi women. Figure 4. Open in new tabDownload slide Saudi men versus Saudi women. Figure 5. Open in new tabDownload slide Qatari men versus Qatari women. Figure 5. Open in new tabDownload slide Qatari men versus Qatari women. Figure 6. Open in new tabDownload slide Pro-female bias in Lebanon. Figure 6. Open in new tabDownload slide Pro-female bias in Lebanon. Figure 7. Open in new tabDownload slide Modernization and pro-female bias. Figure 7. Open in new tabDownload slide Modernization and pro-female bias. Aggregate Analysis Despite common depictions of the Arab world as classically patriarchal, we found only limited evidence of classic sexism in the aggregate. Taken together, respondents in Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the UAE did not view the female journalist as “less”—less expert, less trustworthy, or less inclined to care about the hard-news issue. In short, they did not display the pro-male bias or generalized backlash predicted by classic sexism. This optimistic picture changes, though only somewhat, when we examine the data separately for men and women. Against social identity theory, female respondents did not favor their own gender. Nor were they especially deferential toward the male journalist, thus failing to support system justification theory. Indeed, women overall displayed no evidence of gender bias. Yet while male respondents did display some gender bias, it was not in line with classic sexism: rather, they exhibited a pro-female bias when making the judgment about cares—the journalist's level of concern or conscientiousness in reporting on the issue, and a stereotypically female trait. As figure 1 shows, male respondents revealed a pattern more consistent with ambivalent sexism than any other theory. They assumed the female journalist cared more about the hard-news issue than the male journalist, reflecting a benevolent sexist stereotype rooted in powerful trait stereotypes about women, in this case as more caring and conscientious (Löckenhoff et al. 2014). This result suggests that gender trait stereotypes can override gender role stereotypes and raises the question of when and why that might occur. Although not statistically significant, the differences for men on the other two dependent variables ran in the direction expected by ambivalent sexism; the male journalist was rated higher on expertise, while the female journalist was rated higher on trustworthiness. Regression analysis further revealed that the benevolent sexist result among male respondents in the aggregate was robust to the inclusion of age, education, employment status, religiosity, news media reliance, ideology, and interviewer gender (online appendix D). While the size of the effect was small, which is unsurprising given the variety of factors shown to affect credibility assessments and the diversity of countries from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia included in the aggregate analysis, it increased in statistical significance in the full regression model.8 The effect was similar in magnitude to that of other theoretically motivated predictors of credibility judgments, such as education and news media reliance. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE Although the Arab countries in this study have some important similarities, including aspects of culture, language, geography, and religion, they have very different resource endowments, developmental paths, and historical experiences. Hence, while analyses at the aggregate level help assess popular and scholarly generalizations about the region, they do not take into account the region's diversity, and more granular analyses are also valuable. We begin with the Gulf monarchies due to competing theoretical expectations about them. As figure 2 shows, Qatari, Saudi, and Emirati men displayed a hostile sexist bias, assuming the male journalist was higher in expertise. Yet we found no such bias among Lebanese and Tunisian men, examined as a “non-Gulf” subgroup. As shown in the figure, the interaction between journalist gender and Gulf/non-Gulf was significant. Thus, consistent with the notion of a “petroleum patriarchy” in which petrochemical reliance weakens support for gender equality, we find that male respondents in the three energy-rich countries in our sample embraced a hostile sexist stereotype while those from countries lacking in such wealth did not. Still, as in the aggregate, the overall pattern suggested more of an ambivalent response than a classically sexist one. (Though the differences fell short of statistical significance, Gulf men rated the female journalist as higher on trustworthiness and cares.) In addition, we saw no significant differences in either Qatar or the UAE—both energy-rich countries—when we analyzed them separately. Indeed, the hostile sexism among Gulf men, in general, was driven largely by Saudi Arabia. Here we found strong support for ambivalent sexism. As figure 3 shows, while Saudi men rated the female journalist lower on expertise—a hostile sexist bias—they rated her higher on cares—a benevolent sexist one. Very different findings emerge when we turn to Gulf women. While they did not display evidence of gender bias overall, results by country were strikingly different. Emirati women displayed no significant bias, yet Saudi and Qatari women did—in opposite directions. As figure 4 shows, while Saudi men assumed the female journalist cared more about the hard-news issue, consistent with gender trait stereotypes, Saudi women appeared to defer to the stereotypically masculine nature of the role, assuming the male journalist cared more. While this aligns with system justification, there are also more nuanced interpretations underscoring the need to better understand the mechanisms driving gendered social judgments in differently power-laden contexts. For instance, Saudi men may have stronger gender trait stereotypes—both hostile and benevolent—about women than women do about themselves (Glick et al. 2000). Saudi women's more classically sexist response may also reflect recognition of their limited power within broader male-dominated power structures, which would tend to exclude them from high-level corruption opportunities (Bjarnegård 2013). Unlike Saudi women, the results for Qatari women (figure 5) pointed to a pro-female bias, and on expertise, a male-type trait. This type of gender solidarity aligns with social identity theory, and Qatar's small citizen population together with its promotion of media and journalism may help explain it. Even by Gulf standards, Qatar has an exceptionally small and homogenous citizen population—estimated to be under 330,000 in a population of about 2.7 million, most of whom are expatriates (Foley 2010; Davidson 2012; Gengler and Mitchell 2018). This may contribute to stronger group identities, including among women being encouraged to take on more active roles (Mitchell et al. 2015). In addition, while women's empowerment has also been a government priority in the UAE (Jones 2017), and to a more limited degree in Saudi Arabia,9 it occurs in Qatar alongside highly visible investments in the media sector that are tied to the country's efforts to exercise influence and brand itself (El-Nawawy and Iskander 2002; Lynch 2006; Kamrava 2013; Tok et al. 2016). At a 2017 event in Doha for International Women's Day, for example, the focus was “women make the news,” and Al Jazeera executives emphasized efforts to highlight female journalists, including in stereotypically masculine domains such as war reporting.10 Given such efforts to reduce perceived incongruities between women and media, it is perhaps understandable that Qatari women would differ from Saudi women, showing more gender solidarity in this sector.11 Lebanon and Tunisia Unlike in the Gulf, we found very limited evidence of any traditional pro-male bias in Lebanon and Tunisia. Because Tunisia scores lowest in our sample on human development, the lack of a classically sexist response there is particularly challenging for traditional interpretations of modernization theory emphasizing income and human development. In Tunisia, the finding may be consistent with role congruity, which has found support there in prior work on gender and perceptions of electability (Benstead et al. 2015). As noted, the country, the only one in our sample rated “free” by Freedom House,12 has a longer history of supporting women's rights compared to other Arab countries (Charrad 2001); ranks the highest in our sample in terms of progress toward closing gender gaps (World Economic Forum 2017); and relative to other Arab countries, has a substantial number of female reporters (Macharia 2015). Women in hard-news journalism may appear less incongruous than elsewhere and thus provoke less of a backlash. Yet the results for Lebanon are harder to explain. Here we found evidence for a pro-female bias on a male-type trait—expertise. Intriguingly, further analysis revealed that it was driven not by women favoring their own gender (as in Qatar) but by men favoring the female journalist, as shown in figure 6. Thus, while social identity theory may help explain why Qatari women rated the female journalist higher in expertise, no theory to our knowledge predicts a pro-female bias among male respondents on a male-type trait in a stereotypically masculine domain. What might explain such a “pro-female” bias? These results should be interpreted with caution, not only given power structures that marginalize women in general but also given lessened consistency under regression conditions in Lebanon (online appendix D). Even so, it is notable that other recent survey evidence has also drawn attention to some strikingly pro-female biases in the region that point toward benevolent sexism (Benstead and Lust 2018; Shalaby 2019). In Lebanon, one possible explanation is blame attribution. Lebanon has the highest level of perceived corruption among the Arab countries in our sample.13 To the extent that Lebanese blame widespread problems on the male “powers that be,” some may be more inclined to see women as saviors (Stensöta and Wängnerud 2018). Some evidence does suggest women are less inclined toward corrupt behavior (Rivas 2013), though the reasons may align more with political risk and opportunity structures than true gender differences (Esarey and Chirillo 2013). Perhaps more importantly, perceptions of women as less corrupt are common, if not universal, including in Lebanon (Shalaby 2019). Women's greater involvement in arenas such as government and the police force—despite being “traditionally male”—has been associated with lower levels of perceived corruption (Dollar et al. 2001; Swamy et al. 2001). Although more research is needed, perhaps disenchantment with elites in high-corruption Lebanon may encourage some respondents to distrust men as political news authorities while seeing promise in the female alternative, suggesting a potential “women are wonderful” effect in this realm.14 General Discussion Overall, effect sizes were larger by country and subregion than in the aggregate analysis (ranging from Cohen's d = 0.19 to 0.30). Further analysis revealed that effects for men were generally robust to the inclusion of all covariates in the full models, as online appendix D shows. Among women, effects were less robust, possibly because rapid changes in their roles create more variability in attitudes (Diekman and Eagly 2000). In Lebanon overall, effects were also somewhat less robust with the addition of more covariates, suggesting that gendered social judgments there may be particularly subtle and contingent. Interviewer gender, also included in the regression models, is a potentially important variable in some cases. Interviewer gender could not be randomly assigned, due to the use of nationally representative samples within these Arab nations in which such random assignment was not feasible, so results should be interpreted with care. Still, it is worth noting that such effects are consistent with recent studies demonstrating the importance of interviewer effects across the region (Benstead 2013; Blaydes and Gillum 2013; Benstead 2014). In our case, the data suggested divergence across countries. For instance, in Lebanon, being interviewed by a female was associated with somewhat diminished expectations about the journalist's expertise—especially when the journalist was described as a male—yet other trends were observed elsewhere. While a full analysis is beyond the scope of this article, we investigate interviewer gender effects across the five countries in depth elsewhere. As noted, the use of nationally representative samples involves trade-offs, such as gains in external validity balanced by some reduction in impact. In our case, we would expect effects to increase in size and robustness in laboratory settings, where a more vivid stimulus such as a radio or televised news briefing could be used. In keeping with this expectation, an earlier experimental study found that male sources on political news were perceived as more credible in India, Brazil, and Hong Kong, and the difference was most apparent when the news report was presented orally as a radio broadcast as opposed to a written report (Whittaker and Meade 1967). This further supports the possibility that larger effects would emerge in laboratory settings where we could expose respondents directly to a more vivid stimulus. Demographic Analysis and Modernization Theory: Interaction Effects To what extent did gender bias vary with the demographic variables associated with modernization? Did rising income or education, for instance, predict more gender-egalitarian attitudes? To further assess how well our findings fit modernization theory at the individual level, we investigated potential interaction effects between demographic characteristics and levels of gender bias on the dependent variables, using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and focusing on the interaction term. Thus, we consider income, education, age, and religiosity as potential moderators of experimental treatment effects (i.e., bias), affecting the “direction and/or strength” (Baron and Kenny 1986) of the relationship between the independent variable—journalist gender—and credibility judgments. Across the five countries, we saw no evidence that rising income, rising education, lower age, or declining religiosity were associated with more gender-equal judgments of the male and female journalist. In fact, in the case of rising income, we found some evidence for the reverse effect. Figure 7 shows the interaction between income and journalist gender when considering an aggregate of four countries—Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the UAE (with further statistical details reported in online appendix F).15 Strikingly, as income increases, we do not see greater gender-egalitarianism: instead, we see widening gender bias, as assumptions about how much the female journalist cares about the topic grow more favorable while assumptions about how much the male journalist cares about it become less favorable. Thus, while we do observe a steep drop in deference to the male journalist—the “weakening” of classically patriarchal values predicted by modernization theory—this is accompanied by an increase in deference to the female one, instead of an unbiased judgment overall. Within countries, the most striking and prevalent demographic dynamic we observed was similar. Consider education. Modernization theory suggests that greater education encourages a shift away from traditional pro-male biases and toward more gender-egalitarian attitudes. However, figure 8 shows that greater education in Qatar is associated with a pro-female bias, rather than the absence of bias. Figure 8. Open in new tabDownload slide Rising education and pro-female bias in Qatar. Figure 8. Open in new tabDownload slide Rising education and pro-female bias in Qatar. Likewise, in Tunisia, where we have so far seen very little gender bias, rising income was associated with a dramatic decline in pro-male bias, resulting in a significant interaction favoring women as shown in figure 9. And in Lebanon (figure 10), we see a similar dynamic with age. While older respondents were classically patriarchal, younger ones were not devoid of gender bias, instead displaying a pro-female bias. Finally, we see the same pattern of gender bias reversing with respect to religiosity (figure 11). In Qatar, declining religiosity was linked not with gender-egalitarianism but with a pro-female bias. Figure 9. Open in new tabDownload slide Rising income and pro-female bias in Tunisia. Figure 9. Open in new tabDownload slide Rising income and pro-female bias in Tunisia. Figure 10. Open in new tabDownload slide Youth and pro-female bias in Lebanon. Figure 10. Open in new tabDownload slide Youth and pro-female bias in Lebanon. Figure 11. Open in new tabDownload slide Declining religiosity and pro-female bias in Qatar. Figure 11. Open in new tabDownload slide Declining religiosity and pro-female bias in Qatar. The pattern was remarkably common and suggests a dynamic different from what we have come to expect from modernization theory. While it is increasingly frowned upon to express hostile attitudes toward women, the expression of pro-female biases may be viewed as more acceptable, even modern and enlightened—especially in the case of authoritarian regimes seeking to cultivate a positive image abroad and maintain domestic support (Al-Rasheed 2013; Donno and Kreft 2019; Tripp 2019). In sum, the precipitous drop in respect for traditional male authority that frequently seems to accompany modernization may under some conditions enhance a benevolent sexist tendency that is also inegalitarian and sexist, and worthy of greater research attention. Conclusion The main contribution of this paper has been to test theories of gender bias toward women in influential positions with new data from an experiment conducted in five Arab countries. Experimental work is often limited to small samples in one or two countries (Mutz 2011). As a result, the results provide an unusually broad canvas on which to assess differing theories. Our findings have several important implications. First, while limited to the political news context of the experiment, the results span five countries from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia and thus challenge popular generalizations about the Arab world as deeply and monolithically patriarchal, at least in the classic sense. As a result, we join recent efforts (e.g., Benstead et al. 2015) to move away from the tendency to deem the region “exceptional”—that is, so exotic as to be unable to contribute to broader theorizing about politics and society. This is not to deny that classic sexism remains a serious problem, but rather to highlight the shifting and contextual nature of gender bias in the Arab world as elsewhere. In our experiment, we selected a stereotypically masculine sector more associated with men than women, and thus a “nontraditional” role for the latter. As such, the design was likely to reveal pro-male biases, if they exist in this domain. Yet, surprisingly, we found very limited evidence for a sweeping and exceptionally patriarchal disposition along the lines of classic sexism. By contrast, our results demonstrated both pro-male and pro-female biases. The key result in the aggregate was a pro-female bias among men on a female-type trait—a benevolent sexist bias. While Gulf men did display some hostile sexism, rating the female journalist as significantly lower on expertise, this was primarily driven by Saudi men who also rated the female journalist as higher on cares in accordance with ambivalent sexism. The evidence for women's gender biases, while less robust, also suggested greater complexity and nuance than is often assumed. Saudi women were more classically sexist than Saudi men, potentially reflecting a system-justifying tendency or a deeper recognition of limited power, yet Qatari women were manifestly not; they leaned toward favoring their own gender, and on a male-type trait, consistent with social identity theory. Such divergent responses among women require further research and may reflect context-based implications for gender bias, such as population size and the nature of social engineering for women's empowerment (i.e., role congruity) by country. Other positive biases are harder to explain. In Lebanon, as in Qatar, we also found a pro-female bias on a male-type trait. But this finding was driven by men and not women, so it could not be explained by social identity theory. We tentatively suggested that societies with frustrated populations and male-dominated elites may produce a backlash against male authority, aligned with research indicating that women may be perceived as less corruptible. While some may find this encouraging, such a dynamic would constitute a politically driven form of benevolent sexism, which studies suggest can introduce additional challenges for gender equality particularly by reinforcing norms of “private” patriarchy. Benevolent sexism was also the central take-away from our analysis of interaction effects, focusing on demographic trends and modernization theory. Here, the most common pattern was for gender bias to switch from pro-male to pro-female with greater modernization. Given links between benevolent sexism and gender inequality (Glick et al. 2000), this is an especially important area for further research. An extensive literature has documented the strong incentives that drive authoritarian and illiberal regimes to focus on women's empowerment, as doing so helps signal their virtue and modernization (Brand 1998; Joseph 2000; White 2003; Bush 2011; Al-Rasheed 2013; Pinto 2014; Shalaby and Moghadam 2016; Donno and Kreft 2019; Tripp 2019). As Ridge (2014, 160) observes, authoritarian governments “have not been slow to learn that one thing that pleases the Western press … is to talk about women's empowerment.” Domestically, state support for women is often linked to “the state's modernizing project” (White 2003, 155) and integral to carefully controlled, top-down nationalism. And internationally, promoting women's empowerment may garner international praise while relieving pressure for deeper political reform. As Al-Rasheed (2013) argues, the Saudi government strategically highlights the achievements of women to suggest its own modernity. Presumably, the more “modernized” segments of society are more exposed to elite rhetoric linking support for women with notions of modernity and progress. Thus, it is possible that while modernization processes in the past often did promote true gender-egalitarianism, today they can also swap one form of gender bias for another, reinforcing benevolent sexist biases as an unintended consequence of otherwise noble—or perhaps politically strategic (Al-Rasheed 2013; Bush 2015; Donno and Kreft 2019; Tripp 2019)—efforts to empower women. This provocative possibility requires further research. So do other questions raised here, including when and why gender trait stereotypes may override gender role stereotypes; what explains the prevalence of pro-female biases in our results from Qatar to Lebanon; and what the behavioral and larger political consequences of such biases may be. The last question highlights some of the limitations of the research. Our experiment studied gender biases in perceived credibility of men versus women in hard-news journalism and cannot speak to how such biases may ultimately affect how citizens learn and behave, including in contexts of conflict and mobilization.16 Yet, at the very least, the findings highlight the complexities of contemporary gender biases in Arab countries and suggest more dynamic and context-based hypotheses likely to generate significant theoretical and practical insight. Supplementary Information Supplementary information is available at the International Studies Quarterly data archive. Footnotes 1 For a seminal overview, see Eagly and Karau (2002). 2 For overviews, see Joseph (2000), UNDP (2005), Moghadam (2013), Shalaby and Moghadam (2016), and Dalacoura (2019). 3 Despite significant progress in recent years, most Arab states continue to rank relatively low on gender equality, particularly in areas like women's legal rights, labor market participation, and political representation (World Economic Forum 2017; UNDP 2018). 4 Women are typically seen as higher in communal traits such as warmth, conscientiousness, and concern for others, and also expected to be more trustworthy and ethical, while men are generally seen as higher in agentic traits such as competence, assertiveness, and competitiveness (Broverman et al. 1972; Williams and Best 1990; Huddy and Terkildsen 1993; Löckenhoff et al. 2014; Kennedy et al. 2016). 5 Al Jazeera's profile of Dima Khatib, Managing Director of AJ+, states she “is the only female executive within Al Jazeera Media Network”: https://network.aljazeera.net/about-us/management-profiles/dima-khatib (accessed July 29, 2020). See also the listing of bureau chiefs at https://network.aljazeera.net/about-us/bureaus (accessed July 29, 2020). 6 Specific wording was as follows: “Suppose you're watching the news. A journalist is covering a news story about corruption in local government. The news story is about a government employee accepting bribes and stealing money. He (she) provides his (her) overview of the situation and his (her) recommendations for encouraging more honest and ethical practices in local government.” See online appendix B for details. 7 For more detail on the omnibus survey, see Dennis et al. (2017). While the omnibus survey was administered in six countries, our analysis focuses for comparative purposes only on five of those countries, where the survey experiment was identical. (In the sixth country, a slightly different vignette was used.) The study obtained IRB approval from Georgetown University in Qatar. 8 Cohen's d (a measure of effect size) was 0.10 for the benevolent sexist result found in the aggregate. 9 See Saudi Arabia's national government strategy, Vision 2030. https://www.vision2030.gov.sa/en/ (accessed February 1, 2021). 10 The event (“Women Make the News”) was held on August 3, 2017, co-organized by UNESCO, Al Jazeera Media network, and the Doha Centre for Media Freedom. See http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/news-and-in-focus-articles/all-news/news/women_make_the_news_celebrated_in_qatar/ (accessed August 13, 2020). 11 As Lance and Paschyn (2018, 45) observe, “even though the media remain a male-dominated affair in Qatar … an increasing number of women are pushing against the taboo and pursuing opportunities to appear in front of the camera.” 12 See 2018 data at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018 (accessed August 13, 2020). 13 Transparency International ranks countries in terms of perceived corruption levels, in ascending order of perceived corruption: out of all countries, Lebanon's rank was 138, compared to Tunisia at 73, Saudi Arabia at 58, Qatar at 33, and the UAE at 23. See results for 2018 at https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018 (accessed August 13, 2020). 14 For a similar finding in Jordan, see Jones and Mitchell (2020). 15 For this analysis, Qatar is excluded because a majority of Qataris answered “don't know” to the income question (online appendix A). 16 Benstead and Lust (2018) suggest that biases, including pro-female ones with respect to corruptibility, may not influence voting behavior in a straightforward way. Notes Calvert W. Jones (PhD, Yale University) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, and the author of Bedouins into Bourgeois: Remaking Citizens for Globalization (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Jocelyn Sage Mitchell (PhD, Georgetown University) is an Assistant Professor in Residence in the Liberal Arts program at Northwestern University in Qatar and an affiliated faculty member of Northwestern University's Middle East and North African Studies Program in the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences. Justin D. Martin (PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is an Associate Professor of Journalism at Northwestern University in Qatar and coauthor of the Media Use in the Middle East studies. Notes Authors' note: Support for this research was provided by a grant (NPRP 7-1757-5-261) from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation) and support for research assistance from Northwestern University in Qatar. The authors thank these institutions for their support and note that all statements made herein are solely the authors’ responsibility. Special thanks to Robb Wood and Marium Saeed for their expertise, collegiality, and Herculean efforts on the survey and the vignette experiment. Iman Khamis and Selina Atat provided important research assistance. For their feedback and guidance, the authors also thank Ibrahim Abusharif, George Anghelcev, Lindsay Benstead, Susan Fiske, Khaled Al-Hroub, Amaney Jamal, Sahar Khamis, Ellen Lust, and Shibley Telhami. Participants of the panel, “Insights from Original Survey Research in the Middle East and North Africa,” at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, the ISQ editorial team, and three anonymous reviewers also helped strengthen this article. The data underlying the article are available on the ISQ dataverse at https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/isq. References Abrams Dominic , Viki G. 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TI - Ambivalent Sexism? Shifting Patterns of Gender Bias in Five Arab Countries
JO - International Studies Quarterly
DO - 10.1093/isq/sqab007
DA - 2021-02-20
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/ambivalent-sexism-shifting-patterns-of-gender-bias-in-five-arab-5HhG2SLWO1
SP - 1
EP - 1
VL - Advance Article
IS - 
DP - DeepDyve
ER -