ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses gender in the Middle East, a realm that is certainly undergoing great change and transformation. It addresses some of the most salient gender issues in the region as they affect both men and women, drawing primarily on anthropological and historical works. The chapter also addresses gender as part of past and current discourses of modernization and modernity in the Middle East. It examines the predominant ideal structure of gender and family in the region before moving on to discuss how this has been acted upon by larger forces within the societies of the Middle East making claims about modernization and modernity. The chapter also discusses one way states accomplish family planning is through education and discourses of modernity that equate family with nation. It describes the potential for new communication and other kinds of technologies to disrupt many of the gendered patterns of sociability.
