Gender Attitudes and Inequality in the Arab World: Insights From the 2023–2024 Arab Barometer

Gender inequality remains one of the most persistent social challenges worldwide, influencing access to education, employment, political participation, and family life. In the Arab region, gender norms are closely intertwined with cultural, religious, and socio-political contexts, making public attitudes toward gender equality particularly significant. This study examines public attitudes toward gender inequality across seven Arab countries, namely Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Mauritania, using data from the 2023 to 2024 Arab Barometer. Using a composite Inequality Index, the analysis assesses how education, religious identity, political engagement, internet use, and attitudes toward women’s leadership relate to support for gender-unequal norms. Ordinary Least Squares regression is employed to identify cross-national patterns in gender attitudes while prioritizing comparability across countries. The findings reveal substantial variation in gender inequality attitudes across the countries examined. Higher education and more frequent internet use are associated with more egalitarian attitudes, while lower political interest shows a modest association with more traditional attitudes. Muslim religious identity and skepticism toward women’s leadership are also associated with stronger support for gender inequality. While the cross sectional design limits causal inference, the study offers updated comparative evidence on gender attitudes in the Arab region and contributes to ongoing debates on the cultural and political foundations of gender inequality.