05 Book Review: Modernizing Women Gender and Social Change

Abstract

Modernizing women: Gender and Social Change by Valentine Moghadam is a book that deals with the issues of social change in the MENA Countries (Middle East and North Africa) and Afghanistan. It thoughtfully considers the political social and economic issues and their impact on the gender during the process of state building and economic development. The book is about social change in the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan, and its impact on women’s position and legal status in those societies. The main argument of the author is based on the premise that women’s lives in these societies are not only shaped by Islam and culture rather affected by various interrelated process of economic development, globalization, internal policies and international politics, like rise and fall of Taliban in Afghanistan and reform movements in Iran, to name a few.