ABSTRACT
Authoritarianism and its corollary–the democratic deficit across the region–are intimately connected to the broader politics of exclusion and patriarchy. This chapter explores the issues of patriarchy and how these intersect with authoritarianism and the dearth of democracy in two country case studies—Iran and Saudi Arabia—two large and influential regional countries representing predominantly Shia and Sunni societies, respectively. Under public patriarchy, power is distributed amongst all patriarchs according to whatever other principles of stratification operate. Thus, women do not have access to society’s most important institutions since men hold all the power in those institutions. This leads to the notion that it is a “boys club” and women are excluded from the club. Under the governing system in the Islamic Republic of Iran, women are confronted with a systematic and widespread legal discrimination. The 2011 mass social protests for democratisation and justice in the MENA region led to increased prospects for female mobilisation.
