Arab Mediterranean youth norms and values: a gender analysis

Abstract

This article reflects on the changes and continuities in the cultural values and norms of young men and women with regard to gender relations and roles in five Arab Mediterranean countries: Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt. To do this, attention is given to the processes and practices of cultural innovation that have arisen among the region’s generations of young people since the 2011 uprisings. The empirical analysis is based on qualitative and quantitative data gathered through the multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork and international survey of the SAHWA research project. The analysis reveals young people who are social actors able to confront structural limitations and mechanisms of exclusion; at the same time, it describes the distinct way young men and women in the region inhabit the ambivalent condition of "waithood".

Keywords

• youth
• gender
• agency
• cultural innovation
• cultural norms
• Arab Mediterranean countries