Towards a typology of
"decision-making experience"
of women in the Arab world...
Soukeina Bouraoui, Director
Center for Arab Women Training and Research
• This work aims to construct a typology of decisionmaking women in the Arab world based on a
qualitative survey conducted in six countries, includes
three fundamental aspects:
1 - Defining the process of decision making as a "social
experience";
2 - The definition of typology analysis in the context of
action research;
3 - The presentation of four configurations of decisionmaking experience in the Arab world.
•
But let's start with the presentation of the
interest granted by the CAWTAR to the
question of women's participation in decisionmaking in the Arab world:
1- Arab women and decision making as one of the
strategic issues focused on by CAWTAR
• Recognizing the crucial role played by Arab women
in the process of sustainable development,
CAWTAR has implemented an integrated project
on women and decision making in the Arab world.
This initiative is based on bias epistemological and
heuristic, but also pragmatic and operational
approach consisting of women through action.
Such a multidimensional project comprises four
components independent but complementary:
A participatory approach, to involve different key
actors from design to the implementation of the fullfledged programme.
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The AWDR
• It is a qualitative research, covering 6 Arab countries :
KSA, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia.
• based on in-depth interviews and life stories 103
person (83 women, 20 men)
• It helped to shed light on 3 essential elements relating
to the participation of women in decision making:
• the definition of decision making by the respondents,
• the contexts in which decisions are made,
• barriers and factors conducive to the participation of
women in decision-making.
2 - Participation in decision making as a "social
experiment/experience"
• The process of decision making here is defined as
"crystallization, more or less stable, among individuals and
groups of different/ opposite logics of action, in which the
actors are required to combine and prioritize in order to be
noticed as subjects" .
• We will attempt to outline an engendered "decisionmaking experience" in the Arab world, as the result of
the articulation of 3 logics of action:
• “assimilation and integration”,
• “strategy and tactics”
• “individuation and subjectification”.
- The logic of assimilation and integration :
• participation in decision making is an individual experience
rooted in a social structure.
• The importance, the degree and extent of a decision depend on
space (public / private), institutional structures and networks
(family, economic, political, administrative, etc..).
• The decision also depends on the nature of its subject:
• E.g: Decision making within the family, is different from a
decision in a board of directors of an industrial firm; the
individual internalizes the norms and values of each sphere of
activity; Very often, the decision process is implemented within
a complex institutional world where many social structures
intersect and overlap.
- The logic of tactic and strategy:
• Decision refers to experiences in social relationships, based on a
complex system of alliances, rivalries, tensions and negotiations,
etc.. where others are perceived as rivals, allies or potential
resources.
• e.g: When decision is taken at family level, a woman is obliged
to ally with her son to manipulate or negotiate with her husband
to influence the decision.
• the logic of the tactic is one that directs actions taken by actors
(men and women) who are excluded from the decisions (devoid
of competence, ability, legitimacy). These actors try to
circumvent the system in order to influence decisions and steer
the course of events according to their aspirations.
- The logic of individuation and subjectification:
• Individuation is a process through which the individual
asserts itself as an active player involved in the
manufacture of the decision. As for the logic of
subjectification, it is to claim a new identity.
• Several life events refer to this sense of individuation and
subjectification. Participation in decision making could
be the result of a bifurcation or ruptures biographical
decisive marriage, widowhood, educational achievement,
career advancement and mobility, etc.. considered a
"social renaissance"
- Building Typologies of Decision Making
• Typologies are not defined as groups or juxtaposed with rigid
boundaries, nor are they hierarchical;
• it is a process of understanding the social reality, namely to
"read" and interpret the empirical data from an abstract model
built by the research team with reference to epistemological,
conceptual and methodological tools.
• Regarding CAWTAR’s work on women's participation in
decision-making in the Arab world, it adopt a cluster analysis
that is not to classify individuals or groups, but rather tries to
identify the specific logic of abstract relations to ensure a better
understanding of practices and situations and give a new
intelligibility to social relations.
1 - under-custody Decision :
• This type of DM refers to situations where men resign to women
or delegate to them certain decisions concerning family matters,
while demanding a say on what they deem as essential.
In this type, the woman is considered a second rate actor.
• A case is quoted from Saudi Arabia where women are not
allowed, for example, to deal in commercial business, unless
accompanied by a guardian. Thus, Lina (33, female
entrepreneur) said: "I’m supported by my cousins and they are
dealing with all the necessary procedures to manage my personal
affairs, it is imposed by law and custom."
- under-control Decision (2):
• On another level, the case of Malika (34, engineer, Morocco)
shows that even if the decision taken by a woman is compelling,
it is respected if it is endorsed by the Director.
• Where as Fatma (34, housewife, Morocco), stated that her
husband decides the amount needed to support the family while
she deals with the spendings.
• Similarly, Khlifa (36 years, official Morocco) explained how his
mother made all decisions concerning daily management of the
family affairs after the death of her husband. However, critical
decisions have to be consulted with her brother and brother in
law. "
– smart/clever decision-making:
• It is based on the logic of tactics; since they are outside the
scope of decision making, women resort to means adapted to
various situations to influence the process of decision making.
• Souad (40, female entrepreneur, married to a man aged 75) said:
"I become clever, when necessary; ... I become kind and tender
with my husband to change his attitude. "
• As for Amina (36 years, Head of an association, Morocco),
speaks of tricks her mother used to confront the authority of her
husband: "My father was a polygamist and very authoritarian .
My mother used several means to waive certain decisions he
wanted to impose. To do this, she asked the help of family
members, and even her children. "
- Conditioned DM:
• In this configuration, the participation of women in decision
making is conditioned by the existence of a number of criteria
considered as fundamental and indispensable for participation in
the exercise of decision making.
• According to Zaki (52, Lawyer, Egypt), women can take part in
the decision provided that they are responsible.
• Other conditions for the involvement of women were made by
Ali (41 years, university, Egypt) who believed that women could
occupy the post of Dean only if her decisions are well studied,
• Mustapha (57 years, businessman, Lebanon) believes that
women could occupy decision making positions, provided they
consult decisions with others.
- The underground decision experience:
• The process of DM is not always visible. Very often,
the real actors and influential in this process are not
necessarily those who are formally endowed with
power. As such, Neyla (43, service manager in a
department, Tunisia) is responsible for developing
plans and strategies targeting rural women. But in the
end, her work is approved by different supervisors who
take ownership for it.
- The active decision :
• It refers to active and effective influence in the process of
decision making in which a social actor is developing a set of
knowledge, know-how and means to participate fully in the
exercise of power and decision-making roles to play influence in
different areas of activity.
• Several women from different Arab countries and acting within
several sectors illustrated this decision scheme.
• Raja (60, female entrepreneur, Tunisia), Houria (62 years,
member of an association, Morocco), Balsam (52 years,
association president and dean , Sudan) and Mahassen (45,
female entrepreneur and former MP, Sudan), etc.. who have
decision-making power range, powerful and influential.
Conclusion
• it is important to note that cluster analysis is an approach that was
adopted in this work with the objective of making account the
complexity of empirical reality in the various countries covered
by CAWTAR’s investigation.
• the different types identified does not necessarily correspond to
social reality in its purest form, as it is lived and experienced by
social actors.
• In other words, the different characteristics of each type may be
observed within the same social group, even within the same
society.