Janine Astrid Clark and Jillian Schwedler, Who Opened the Window? Women’s Activism in Islamist Parties

Islamist parties in Jordan and Yemen have become the most female-friendly in the Middle East since the initiation of political liberalization. Why has women’s participation in two highly conservative Islamist parties increased so dramatically over a relatively short period of time? Expanded women’s participation is not the result of a strong, articulated women’s movement within each party or of the triumph of moderates over hardliners. Rather, Islamist women have found greater voice when male party leaders recognize the utility of mobilizing female voters and when tensions within the parties largely unrelated to women create space that women can seize. In particular, intraparty fissures along two issue axes—commitment to democratization and interpretation of sacred texts—create structural openings for Islamist women. While the openings often disappear as conflicts are resolved, women advance incrementally within the parties.

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