The recent gang rape and killing of a young woman in New Delhi – and the subsequent protests – have focused worldwide attention on gender issues in India. A 2010 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey that examined attitudes about gender around the world sheds some light on how public opinion in India compares to the other 21 nations surveyed.

Fully 92% of Indians said that women should have equal rights with men. But when asked specifically which gender should take priority in the workplace during tough times or in higher education, attitudes in India are less supportive of gender equality than in many other countries around the world.¹ (The survey did not include specific questions about sexual harassment or rape.)

Virtually all Indians (95%) agreed that women should be able to work outside the home. But more than eight-in-ten (84%) said that when jobs are scarce, men “should have more right to a job than women.” That response made India stand out – it was among the highest percentages in the nations surveyed; a similar percentage (82%) said this in Pakistan.

By comparison, 97% of Americans said women should be able to work outside the home, while just 14% said that when jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job. That was among the lowest percentage on this question, comparable to the 12% that said this in Britain and Spain.

The view that men get more opportunities than women for jobs that pay well, even when women are as qualified for the job, was widespread in most of the countries surveyed. In India, 83% agreed with this statement, among the highest along with Germany (84%) and Poland (83%). In the U.S., roughly two-thirds (68%) agreed.

On a separate question, more than six-in-ten in India (63%) agreed that a university education is more important for a boy than for a girl, the highest number to say this in the survey. About half in Pakistan (51%), Egypt (50%) and China (48%) also expressed this view.

In the U.S., 83% disagreed. Similarly, more than eight-in-ten disagreed in Britain (87%), Brazil (87%), France (87%), Mexico (84%) and Germany (83%). Virtually all of those surveyed in Lebanon (97%) disagreed.

A majority of Indians (60%) said that a marriage in which both husband and wife have jobs and take care of the house and children is a more satisfying way of life than having the husband provide financially while the wife cares for the household. That’s lower than the majorities in many other countries, including 91% in Spain and France, 84% in Brazil and 78% in China. In the U.S., 71% said a marriage in which both husband and wife have jobs is more satisfying.

Other data also shows India as a country with a continuing gender gap. The World Economic Forum ranked India 105th out of 135 countries in its 2012 Global Gender Gap Index. By comparison, several northern European countries – Iceland, Finland and Norway – top the list, meaning men and women are more likely to have equal opportunities. In this year’s report, the U.S. ranked 22nd.

The ratings combine four sub-indexes to come up with the overall ranking: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment.

According to the World Economic Forum, India’s ranking gained eight places in 2012 compared to a year ago as a result of improvements in the educational attainment and political empowerment sub-indexes. Still, it is the lowest ranking among emerging BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China in the index.

More than a year after the first stirrings of the Arab Spring, there continues to be a strong desire for democracy in Arab and other predominantly Muslim nations. Solid majorities in Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan believe democracy is the best form of government, as do a plurality of Pakistanis.

Indeed, these publics do not just support the general notion of democracy – they also embrace specific features of a democratic system, such as competitive elections and free speech.

A substantial number in key Muslim countries want a large role for Islam in political life. However, there are significant differences over the degree to which the legal system should be based on Islam.

The United States is not seen as promoting democracy in the Middle East. In newly democratic Tunisia, only about three-in-ten believe the American response to the political upheaval in their country has had a positive impact.

Despite the tumult and uncertainty of the last year, views about democracy are mostly unchanged since 2011, although support has declined somewhat in Jordan. Enthusiasm for democracy tends to be generally less intense in Jordan and in Pakistan. It is consistently strong in Lebanon and Turkey.

While democratic rights and institutions are popular, they are clearly not the only priorities in the six Muslim majority nations surveyed. In particular, the economy is a top concern. And if they had to choose, most Jordanians, Tunisians and Pakistanis would rather have a strong economy than a good democracy. Turks and Lebanese, on the other hand, would prefer democracy. Egyptians are divided.

There is also a strong desire for Islam to play a major role in the public life of these nations, and most want Islam to have at least some influence on their country’s laws. Majorities in Pakistan, Jordan and Egypt believe laws should strictly follow the teachings of the Quran, while most Tunisians and a 44%-plurality of Turks want laws to be influenced by the values and principles of Islam, but not strictly follow the Quran.

About four-in-ten Lebanese say laws should not be influenced at all by the teachings of the Quran, although on this issue – as on many issues – views vary sharply along religious and sectarian lines. While 63% of Lebanese Christians and 38% of Sunni Muslims say laws should not be guided by the Quran, just 13% of Shia Muslims agree.

Just as opinions about religion and politics vary across these six nations, so do views about gender equality. Majorities in all six believe women should have equal rights as men, and more than eight-in-ten hold this view in Lebanon and Turkey. However, in Egypt – where the role of women in society has been a heavily debated issue throughout the post-Mubarak transition period – a slimmer 58%-majority favors equal rights, while 36% oppose the idea. Only 53% of Egyptian men endorse equal rights.

Moreover, while many support the general principle of gender equality, there is less enthusiasm for gender parity in politics, economics, and family life. For instance, many believe men make better political leaders, that men should have more of a right to a job than women when jobs are scarce, and that families should help choose a woman’s husband.

These are among the key findings from a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, conducted in six predominantly Muslim nations March 19 to April 20.¹ The poll, which is part of the broader 21-nation spring 2012 Global Attitudes survey, found considerable optimism – at least among Arab publics – about the prospects for democracy in the region. Solid majorities in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon said the 2011 popular uprising would lead to more democracy in the Middle East. Turks and Pakistanis, on the other hand, were less hopeful.

This report includes a special section on Tunisian public opinion (see Part II). In the nation where the Arab Spring began, large majorities say they are dissatisfied with the country’s direction and its economic situation. While Tunisians embrace their country’s nascent democracy, they are divided over whether things in their country have actually gotten better since long-running dictator President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was forced from office. Still, most are hopeful about Tunisia’s future and optimistic that the economy will improve in the next 12 months. And despite the dissatisfaction with current conditions, the ruling Islamist party Ennahda receives positive marks from 65% of Tunisians.

Both Democracy and Economy Are Priorities

Majorities in five of the six nations polled (and a plurality of Pakistanis) believe democracy is the best form of government. Moreover, there is a strong desire in these nations for specific democratic rights and institutions, such as competitive multi-party elections and freedom of speech.

Other goals are also clearly important. Many say political stability is a crucial priority, and even more prioritize economic prosperity. When respondents are asked which is more important, a good democracy or a strong economy, Turkey and Lebanon are the only countries where more than half choose democracy. Egyptians are divided, while most Tunisians, Pakistanis and Jordanians prioritize the economy.

Overall, views about the economic situation in these countries are grim, although Turkey is a notable exception. Nearly six-in-ten Turks (57%) say their country’s economy is in good shape, but at least seven-in-ten in Pakistan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan offer negative assessments.

A Major Role for Islam in Public Life

In five of six nations, solid majorities say Islam is already playing a large role in the country’s political life. In newly democratic Tunisia, where the Islamist party Ennahda won the largest share of votes in the recent parliamentary elections, fully 84% think Islam has a major role.

Similarly, in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood has won both parliamentary and presidential elections, 66% hold this view, up from 47% two years ago.

The view that Islam plays a large role in political life has also become more prevalent in Pakistan over the last two years. Meanwhile, more than six-in-ten in Turkey and Lebanon believe Islam is a major part of political life in their countries. This view is especially pervasive among Lebanese Christians – 75% think Islam has a major role.

The clear exception on this issue is Jordan. Only 31% of Jordanians believe Islam currently plays a large part in their nation’s political life, while 63% say it has a small role. Among the majority of Jordanians who say Islam is playing a small role, 80% say it is a bad thing that Islam has only a minor part in the country’s politics.

Support for Gender Equality – but Not in All Circumstances

While majorities in all six countries support the principle of gender equality, there are significant differences between men and women on this issue. The most striking gender gap is in Jordan, where 82% of women but just 44% of men say women should have the same rights as men.

Moreover, while there is majority support for the idea of gender equality, this does not necessarily apply to specific aspects of public and private life. For instance, at least half in Tunisia, Pakistan, Turkey and Jordan say men make better political leaders. When it comes to economics, most say women should be able to work outside the home, but most also believe that when jobs are scarce, jobs for men should be the first priority. And in the personal realm, many of those surveyed believe a woman’s family should help choose her husband, rather than the woman herself – indeed, in Pakistan and Jordan this is the majority view.

Limited Support for Extremist Groups

Extremist groups are largely rejected in predominantly Muslim nations, although significant numbers do express support for radical groups in several countries. For instance, while there is no country in which a majority holds a favorable opinion of the Palestinian organization Hamas, it receives considerable support in Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt.

The militant Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah receives its highest overall ratings in Tunisia, where nearly half express a positive opinion. Sizable minorities in both Jordan and Egypt also have a favorable view, but Hezbollah’s image has been declining in both countries in recent years. In its home country, views about Hezbollah are sharply divided along sectarian lines: 94% of Shia, 33% of Christians, and 5% of Sunnis give the group favorable marks.

Across all six nations, less than 20% have a positive opinion about al Qaeda or the Taliban. In Turkey and Lebanon, support for these groups is in the single digits. However, fully 19% of Egyptians rate these extremist organizations favorably.

Turkey and Erdogan Popular

Turkey, which has significantly increased its diplomatic profile in recent years, particularly in the Middle East, is held in high regard in the predominantly Muslim nations surveyed. Solid majorities in all six nations express a favorable opinion of Turkey. Moreover, its leader, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the moderate Islamist party AKP, also receives largely positive reviews.

Most of those surveyed believe Turkey favors democracy in the Middle East, including roughly three-in-four in the newly democratic nations of Egypt and Tunisia. Fewer say this about Saudi Arabia, although more than half in Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan think the oil-rich kingdom does support democracy in the region.

Yet, relatively few believe the United States wants democracy in the Middle East, including just 37% in Egypt, a major recipient of American democracy promotion funds in recent years. Exceedingly few think Israel favors democracy in the Middle East – just 10% or less in all six nations hold this view.

Tunisians Unhappy With State of Country, but Still Hopeful

Nearly eight-in-ten Tunisians (78%) are dissatisfied with the way things are going in their country and a similar number (83%) describe current economic conditions as bad. And the country is split over whether it is better off now that Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali is no long in power.

However, Tunisians show few signs of wanting a return to autocracy. A majority says a democratic government is preferable, even if that means some risk of instability, and large majorities deem rights and institutions such as a fair judiciary, honest elections, and free speech very important.

And while they are glum about current conditions, they are hopeful about the future. Two-thirds (66%) are optimistic about Tunisia’s future, and 75% think the country’s economy will improve in the next 12 months.

The ruling Ennahda party gets largely positive reviews – 65% have a favorable opinion of the Islamist organization, which was banned from politics during the Ben Ali era. Two Ennahda leaders, party co-founder Rached Ghannouchi and current Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, are viewed favorably by about two-in-three Tunisians.

The U.S. receives mixed reviews in Tunisia. Overall, 45% have a favorable and 45% an unfavorable view of the U.S. However, President Barack Obama gets mostly poor marks – 57% say they have little or no confidence that Obama will do the right thing in world affairs. And there is no consensus among Tunisians about how the U.S. has handled the political changes taking place in their country – 31% believe the American response has had a positive effect, 27% say it has been negative, and 25% volunteer that the U.S. has had no impact.

Also of Note

• While few in Tunisia and Egypt describe the current economy as good, there is optimism about the future – 75% of Tunisians and 50% of Egyptians believe the economy will improve in the next 12 months.
• On balance, opinions about Iran are negative, although Pakistan is a clear exception – 76% of Pakistanis have a favorable view of Iran, and 47% rate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad positively.
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad generally receives very negative ratings across the nations included in the survey (For more on views about Syria and President Bashar al-Assad, see “Widespread Condemnation for Assad in Neighboring Countries,” released June 21, 2012).

For instance, while solid majorities support the idea of women’s employment, majorities also believe that men have more of a right to jobs when unemployment is high. Half or more in four of the countries say men make better political leaders than women. And in three of five nations, half or more believe women’s families should have a say over who they marry.

Across the nations surveyed, women are consistently more likely than men to embrace equality. Supporters of equal rights generally say more changes are needed to achieve gender parity.

Support for Principle of Equality

Broad majorities endorse equality between men and women. More than eight-in-ten in Lebanon and Turkey express support for equal rights, along with roughly three-quarters in Pakistan and Tunisia. Support is lower in Jordan and Egypt, although about six-in-ten still say there should be equality between the sexes.

Women are considerably more supportive of equal rights than men. With the exception of Turkey, where no gender differences emerge, there is at least a 10 percentage point gap between the sexes on this issue. For example, in Jordan, 82% of women support equality compared with just 44% of men. Similarly large differences are found in Pakistan (87% vs. 65%) and Tunisia (84% vs. 65%).

Support for Women’s Employment, but Men Have Priority

Solid majorities embrace the idea of women working outside the home, including more than eight-in-ten in Lebanon, Tunisia and Turkey.

Support is somewhat lower in Pakistan and Egypt. Still, at least six-in-ten in each country believe women should be able to work outside the home.

Pakistani views on this issue are divided sharply along gender lines; 88% of women support women’s employment, while just 46% of men agree.

Despite embracing the idea of women working outside the home, many believe that men should be first in line when employment is scarce. Roughly eight-in-ten or more in Tunisia, Pakistan and Egypt agree that men have a greater right to jobs when unemployment is high. Two-thirds in Turkey and Jordan say the same. In Lebanon, the public is divided on this question.

Men are generally more likely than women to agree that scarce jobs should go first to men, although majorities of women in five countries share this view. The gender gap is most pronounced in Jordan (+21 percentage points) and Pakistan (+20). A double-digit gap is also evident in Lebanon (+12).

Men Are Better Political Leaders

When it comes to political office, many believe men are better suited for the job. Half or more in Tunisia, Pakistan, Turkey and Jordan say men make better political leaders.

In Egypt, the public is divided on this question: 42% say men are better, while 39% think women are equally capable; 16% say women make better leaders. Lebanon is the only country where more than half (54%) believe that men and women are equals in the political arena.

Men are much more likely than women to say that men make better political leaders, while women are more likely than men to say that both sexes are equal. For example, in Lebanon, 45% of men choose men as better suited for politics while just 20% of women do so. The gender gap is also high in Tunisia (+17 percentage points), Jordan (+14), Turkey (+13) and Pakistan (+10). There is no difference between men and women in Egypt on this issue.

In most of the countries surveyed in both 2007 and 2012, there has been little change in opinions on this topic. Turks, however, are much more likely now to say men are better political leaders than they were in 2007 (52% vs. 34%); five years ago, 51% said men and women were equally effective in politics. More religious Turkish Muslims are especially likely to see men as better political leaders – 65% of those who pray five times a day share this view, compared with 48% of those who pray less frequently. In addition, those who are supporters of the AKP, the ruling party headed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are more likely than those who support the more secular CHP party to believe men are more effective (62% vs. 40%, respectively).

Should Women Choose Their Own Husbands?

Attitudes are mixed on whether women should be the primary decision-makers in choosing their partners. Broad majorities in Tunisia and Turkey believe that a woman, rather than her family, should choose her husband.

In Lebanon, the public is divided: almost half (47%) say women should be able to pick their future partners, while a roughly equal percentage (46%) believe women and their families should both participate in the decision.

About half in Jordan (49%) volunteer that both the woman and her family should have a say, while 26% believes the woman should choose. Pakistan is the only country where a majority (59%) thinks the family should choose a woman’s husband.

Unlike other measures of gender equality in the survey, there tend to be only minor differences between men and women on the topic of choosing a husband. The exception is Jordan, where 35% of women believe they should choose while just 17% of men say the same.

While there are few gender differences in Lebanon and Turkey on this topic, an age gap emerges there. Six-in-ten of those ages 18-to-29 in Lebanon believe a woman should choose her own husband, compared with 50% of those ages 30-to-49 and just 30% of people 50 and older. In Turkey, 70% of the youngest group say women should choose, while 65% in the middle group and 56% in the oldest group share this view.

Inequality Persists

Of those who support gender equality, many believe more changes need to be made in order to achieve parity between men and women in their country. Roughly six-in-ten of those in Egypt and Turkey who say women should have the same rights as men believe not enough has been done to achieve such equality. More than half of equal rights supporters in Pakistan and Lebanon say the same about their own country. In Jordan and Tunisia, on the other hand, about six-in-ten equal rights supporters are largely content with their nations’ advances toward equality.

Among backers of gender equality in Tunisia and Lebanon, women are more likely than men to believe more changes need to be made (+20 and +14 percentage points, respectively). By contrast, Egyptian women are less likely than men to say more progress needs to be made (52% vs. 70%).

Opinions about who has a better life – men or women – are mixed across the six countries surveyed. Pluralities in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon say that men and women are equally well off. Turkey is the only country where a plurality says men are doing better, while Tunisia is the only nation where a plurality thinks women are better off. The Pakistani public is divided between those who say men are better off (42%) and those who think life is the same for men and women in their country (38%).

Women are generally more likely to believe that men have an easier life. For example, in Turkey, 55% of women say men have a better life, while just 27% of men agree. Gender gaps of 10 percentage points or more also exist in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon and Jordan.

The publics of the world broadly embrace key tenets of economic globalization but fear the disruptions and downsides of participating in the global economy. In rich countries as well as poor ones, most people endorse free trade, multinational corporations and free markets. However, the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey of more than 45,000 people finds they are concerned about inequality, threats to their culture, threats to the environment and threats posed by immigration. Together, these results reveal an evolving world view on globalization that is nuanced, ambivalent, and sometimes inherently contradictory.

There are signs that enthusiasm for economic globalization is waning in the West — Americans and Western Europeans are less supportive of international trade and multinational companies than they were five years ago. In contrast, there is near universal approval of global trade among the publics of rising Asian economic powers China and India.

The survey also finds that globalization is only one of several wide-ranging social and economic forces that are rapidly reshaping the world. Strong majorities in developing countries endorse core democratic values, but people are less likely to say their countries are ensuring free speech, delivering honest elections or providing fair trials to all. Conflicting views on the relationship between religion and morality sharply divide the world. But on gender issues, the survey finds that a global consensus has emerged on the importance of education for both girls and boys, while most people outside the Muslim world also say that women and men make equally good political leaders.

Costs and Benefits of Globalization

Overwhelmingly, the surveyed publics see the benefits of increasing global commerce and free market economies. In all 47 nations included in the survey, large majorities believe that international trade is benefiting their countries. For the most part, the multinational corporations that dominate global commerce receive favorable ratings. Nonetheless, since 2002 enthusiasm for trade has declined significantly in the United States, Italy, France and Britain, and views of multinationals are less positive in Western countries where economic growth has been relatively modest in recent years.

In most countries, majorities believe that people are better off under capitalism, even if it means that some may be rich and others poor. Support for free markets has increased notably over the past five years in Latin American and Eastern European nations, where increased satisfaction with income and perceptions of personal progress are linked to higher per capita incomes.

But there are widely shared concerns about the free flow of people, ideas and resources that globalization entails. In nearly every country surveyed, people worry about losing their traditional culture and national identities, and they feel their way of life needs protection against foreign influences. Importantly, the poll finds widespread concerns about immigration. Moreover, there is a strong link between immigration fears and concerns about threats to a country’s culture and traditions. Those who worry the most about immigration also tend to see the greatest need for protecting traditional ways of life against foreign influences.

Immigration Fears

In both affluent countries in the West and in the developing world, people are concerned about immigration. Large majorities in nearly every country surveyed express the view that there should be greater restriction of immigration and tighter control of their country’s borders.

Although Western publics remain concerned about immigration, they generally are less likely to back tighter controls today than they were five years ago, despite heated controversies over this issue in both Europe and the United States over the last few years. In Italy, however, support for greater restrictions has increased — 87% now support more controls on immigration, up seven points from 2002.

Concerns about immigration have increased in other countries as well, perhaps most notably in Jordan, where an influx of Iraqi refugees has raised the salience of this issue — 70% of Jordanians back tighter immigration controls, up from 48% five years ago.

Religion and Social Issues

Global publics are sharply divided over the relationship between religion and morality. In much of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, there is a strong consensus that belief in God is necessary for morality and good values. Throughout much of Europe, however, majorities think morality is achievable without faith. Meanwhile, opinions are more mixed in the Americas, including in the United States, where 57% say that one must believe in God to have good values and be moral, while 41% disagree.

The survey finds a strong relationship between a country’s religiosity and its economic status. In poorer nations, religion remains central to the lives of individuals, while secular perspectives are more common in richer nations.¹ This relationship generally is consistent across regions and countries, although there are some exceptions, including most notably the United States, which is a much more religious country than its level of prosperity would indicate. Other nations deviate from the pattern as well, including the oil-rich, predominantly Muslim — and very religious — kingdom of Kuwait.

The survey also measured global opinion about contemporary social issues, finding a mix of traditional and progressive views. Throughout Western Europe and much of the Americas, there is widespread tolerance towards homosexuality. However, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Israel stand apart from other wealthy nations on this issue; in each of these countries, fewer than half of those surveyed say homosexuality should be accepted by society. Meanwhile, in most of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, there is less tolerance toward homosexuality.

Regarding gender issues, there is a broad consensus that both boys and girls should receive an education. In all 47 countries surveyed, at least seven-in-ten respondents believe that education is equally important for boys and girls. Most publics also believe that men and women are equally qualified for political leadership, although there is less agreement on this issue. Notably, in several predominantly Muslim publics — including Mali, the Palestinian territories, Kuwait, Pakistan and Bangladesh — majorities say that men make better political leaders. The survey also asked about another often contentious gender issue: Muslim women wearing the veil. In 15 of 16 Muslim publics surveyed, majorities say women should have the right to decide whether they wear a veil. Women generally are more likely than men to express this opinion.

Views of Democracy

Most key democratic principles are broadly supported throughout the developing world. Large majorities in most of the 35 developing countries surveyed strongly value religious freedom and an impartial judicial system. Somewhat smaller majorities endorse honest multiparty elections, free speech and a media free from government censorship. But majorities in only six nations rate civilian control of the military as very important, the least valued of the six core democratic principles tested.

While basic democratic freedoms are prized throughout the developing world, experiencing such liberties is another matter. This “democracy gap” is generally widest in the Middle East. In Lebanon, for example, more than eight-in-ten people view free speech, honest multiparty elections and a fair judicial system as “very important.” But the number of Lebanese who believe these characteristics describe their country “very well” is much lower — only 36% for free speech, 23% for a fair judicial system, and 17% for multiparty elections.

As in past surveys, majorities in predominantly Muslim nations continue to believe Western-style democracy can work in their countries. But in the current poll, Turks are more skeptical of this than they have been over the past five years. This may reflect anti-Western sentiment more than a diminished appetite for democracy, which Turks broadly embrace. In contrast, however, the weakest endorsement of democracy comes not from the Muslim world, but from Russia, where by a greater than two-to-one margin people say a strong leader, rather than democracy, can best solve the country’s problems.

Other questions suggest that the struggle to meet basic human needs can supersede support for democracy. For example, most publics in both the developed and developing world say being free from hunger and poverty is more important to them than either free speech or religious freedom. The conflict between basic rights and basic needs is particularly apparent in the developing world, home to many of the newest and most fragile democracies. When asked to choose between a strong economy and a good democracy, majorities in 14 of 36 developing countries choose prosperity, while majorities in 15 select a good democracy.

Other findings from this wide-ranging survey include:

Attitudes toward government

• Concerns about excessive government control have increased in much of Western and Eastern Europe, with particularly large increases in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. Overall, worries about government intrusion into daily life are higher in Western Europe than in the former Eastern bloc.
• Majorities in every country surveyed say that the government should take care of the very poor who cannot take care of themselves. Support for a social safety net is widespread across all regions, although slightly weaker in Japan, Jordan and Egypt.
• Few publics favor economic growth at the expense of the environment. In 46 of 47 countries surveyed, majorities say the environment should be given priority, even if this means lower growth and fewer jobs.

American exceptionalism

• Americans tend to be more religious than the publics of other affluent nations. Americans also are more likely to say that individuals are in control of their lives, another indication of what some scholars describe as “American exceptionalism” in terms of core attitudes and beliefs.
• Americans are somewhat more likely than the publics of most NATO allies to support the use of force in the international arena. Overwhelmingly, Americans think military force is sometimes necessary in world affairs, while among European publics there is greater division on this issue. Egyptians, Jordanians and Germans are most likely to reject the view that military force is sometimes necessary.
• More than half of Americans say their culture is superior to others, a larger proportion than in most other Western publics. But in Italy, nearly seven-in-ten say their way of life is better.

Muslims and their beliefs

• In most Muslim countries, at least one-in-three Muslims — including more than half in Lebanon and Turkey — sees a struggle between Islamic fundamentalists and those who want to modernize their countries.
• While most publics agree that religion and politics do not mix, opinions are moving in opposite directions in two key Muslim allies of the United States. Support for strict separation between religion and government is growing in Pakistan, while in Turkey support for such separation has declined significantly in the past five years.
• Large majorities in every Latin American, Eastern European and African country surveyed say that women should be able to choose their own husbands. But sizable minorities in several predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia — and a majority in Pakistan — say that a woman’s family should choose her husband.

Immigration

• North Americans generally are more welcoming to immigrants than are Western Europeans. Among Western European publics, Swedes are the most likely to say immigration from North Africa and the Middle East, as well as from Eastern Europe, is a good thing for their country, while Italians and Germans express the most negative views.
• Sizable minorities in 11 of the 36 developing countries surveyed say they regularly receive money from relatives living in another country. In Lebanon and Bangladesh, nearly half of respondents say they receive help from family members living abroad.

Media and technology

• People around the world continue to turn to television for news about international and national issues. The only exceptions are several African nations where radio is still the primary source of information. Newspapers continue to lose readers and trail far behind television as a news source.
• Online news sources are steadily gaining in popularity in the West and parts of Asia but draw only a tiny audience in Africa or Latin America.
• Computer ownership has steadily risen in the past five years, particularly in Eastern Europe. At the same time, the gap in technology use between the world’s advanced countries and less developed nations has increased significantly.
• Cell phone ownership is increasing at a dramatic pace in both the developed and developing worlds. Since 2002, cell phone ownership has grown by 20 percentage points or more in 24 of the 35 countries where trend data is available.

When it comes to marriage, opinion is largely in favor of women choosing their own husbands. Majorities in 28 of the 36 countries where people were asked if a woman should choose whom she marries or if it is better for her family to choose for her say women should choose. But majorities in Egypt (53%) and Bangladesh (52%) and considerable minorities in several other countries say both a woman and her family should have a say, and a majority of Pakistanis (55%) say a woman’s family should choose her husband.

The survey also finds that Muslims in the Middle East, Asia and Africa generally support a woman’s right to decide whether or not to wear a veil, but a majority of Ethiopians (59%) and nearly half of Nigerians (48%) disagree that women should have that right. At the same time, large proportions of Muslims in most countries with sizable Muslim populations included in the poll believe there should be restrictions on men and women being employed in the same workplace.

Widespread Support for Educating Boys and Girls

The view that it is equally important for boys and girls to be educated receives nearly unanimous support around the world, even in regions where girls have traditionally not had the same access to education as boys. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than nine-in-ten in Ivory Coast (95%), Kenya (94%), Uganda (94%), South Africa (93%) and Tanzania (91%) say it is just as important for girls to get an education as it is for boys. That opinion is also widespread in South Asia and the Middle East. In Morocco, for example, where men are more than one and a half times more likely than women to be literate, 89% say it is equally important for boys and girls to receive an education.

Egyptians, Jordanians, Pakistanis, Palestinians and Malians are the least likely to say that education is equally important for boys and girls. Still, nearly three-quarters in those countries share that view. About one-in-five in Pakistan (17%), Jordan (19%) and Egypt (22%) think it is more important for boys to be educated. In no country do more people say it is more important to educate girls than say it is more important for boys to receive an education.

In Egypt, the opinion that it is more important for boys to be educated is considerably more popular among men. Nearly three-in-ten Egyptian men (27%) share that view, compared with 18% of women. Gender differences on the issue of educating boys and girls are less pronounced but also significant in the Palestinian territories, where 17% of men and 10% of women say it is more important for boys to be educated. In the other countries surveyed, gender is generally not an important factor in people’s views about educating children.

Women and Political Leadership

Publics in most countries surveyed say that women and men make equally good political leaders, but majorities in six countries and significant minorities in about half of the countries surveyed say men are better political leaders. Opinions about political leadership are often split along gender lines, with men more likely than women to say men make better political leaders and women more likely than men to say women make better leaders or that both are equally good.

Western European and North and Latin American publics top the list of those who see men and women as equally good political leaders. Eight-in-ten in Canada and even a greater proportion in France (81%), Venezuela (82%), Spain (83%), Britain (83%), Peru (83%), Bolivia (85%) and Sweden (90%) express that view. Three-quarters of Americans say men and women make equally good political leaders, while 16% say men are better leaders and only 6% say women are better than men.

By contrast, majorities in Mali (65%), the Palestinian territories (64%), Kuwait (62%), Pakistan (54%), Bangladesh (52%) and Ethiopia (51%) say men make better political leaders than women, as do nearly half of Jordanians (49%) and Nigerians (48%). Russians are also divided – 44% say men and women make equally good leaders while 40% say men are better. Only in Brazil do more people say women make better political leaders than say men do – 15% of Brazilians say women make better political leaders and 10% say men are better leaders.

Throughout Africa, as well as in several Asian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European countries, views about political leadership vary by gender. In Senegal, for example, a majority of men (51%) say men make better political leaders than women, but fewer than a quarter (23%) of Senegalese women share that view. Women in that country are much more likely to say both men and women are equally good (59% of women express that opinion vs. 37% of men).

In the United States, where Hillary Clinton currently leads the Democratic primary field, opinions about gender and political leadership reflect partisan rather than gender differences. Nearly three-in-ten (29%) Republicans say men make better leaders, compared with one-in-ten Democrats. A similar proportion of Democrats also say women would make better leaders (9%), and nearly eight-in-ten (78%) say both men and women are equally good. By contrast, only 2% of Republicans say women make better political leaders and about two-thirds (65%) say both are equally good.

Should Women Choose Their Own Husbands?

Majorities in every Latin American, Eastern European and African country surveyed as well as in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and Morocco say women should choose their own husbands. That view is less popular in South Asia and in most Arab countries, but only in Pakistan does a majority say a woman’s family should choose whom she marries.

The view that women should choose their husbands is nearly unanimous in the Czech Republic (98%), Slovakia (98%), Brazil (97%), Bulgaria (93%), Poland (92%) and Chile (92%). Large majorities in most other countries where the question was asked also share that view, but considerable minorities in most of those countries also say that both a woman and her family should have a say about whom she marries. For example, while 57% in Malaysia, 58% in Turkey, and 65% in Venezuela believe that a woman should choose her own husband, more than three-in-ten in those countries say both a woman and her family should have a say.

Publics in South Asia and in Arab countries, with the exception of Morocco, are considerably more likely to say a woman’s family should choose her husband or that both should have a say. The Lebanese are the most divided – 47% say a woman should choose and the same number say her family should also have a say. Only 6% in Lebanon believe a woman’s family alone should choose whom she marries. Lebanese Christians are somewhat more likely than Muslims in that country to say a woman’s family should choose – 12% of Christians hold that view, compared with only 3% of Muslims.

Only in Pakistan does a majority (55%) say that it is better for a woman’s family to choose her husband. Women in that country are slightly more likely than men to express that opinion – 57% of women and 53% of men say a woman’s family should choose whom she marries. This view is especially prevalent among married women. Nearly six-in-ten (59%) married Pakistani women say it is better for a woman’s family to choose, while about a third (32%) say both a woman and her family should have a say. Women who have never been married are more divided; 42% say a woman’s family should choose her husband and 42% say both should have a say. Pakistani women who have never been married are nearly twice as likely as married women in that country to say a woman should choose her own husband (13% of unmarried vs. 7% of married women).

Morocco is the only Arab country included in the survey where a majority (63%) says it is better for a woman to choose her husband and the only country where there is a double-digit gender gap on the subject. Nearly three-quarters of Moroccan women (73%) say women should choose whom they marry; just over half of men in that country (53%) agree. Moroccan men are about two and a half times more likely than women to say it is better for a woman’s family to choose (27% of men say that is the case vs. 11% of women) and virtually the same proportion of Moroccan men and women say both should have a say (17% of men and 16% of women). The gender gap is considerably less pronounced in other countries.

Differences of opinion in Morocco also reflect a generational divide. Seven-in-ten 18-29 year-olds in that country say that women should choose their own husbands, while six-in-ten (62%) 30-49 year-olds and just over half (53%) of those fifty or older share that view. The generational gap is even wider in Kenya, where fully 85% of 18-20 year-olds think women should choose whom they marry, compared with seven-in-ten 30-49 year-olds and 59% of those fifty or older. Young people in Bolivia, Peru, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Lebanon, Indonesia, Ghana and Senegal are also considerably more likely than older generations to say that women should choose their own husbands.

Wearing the Veil: Who Should Decide?

With the exception of Ethiopia, majorities of Muslims in countries with sizable Muslim populations included in the survey agree with the statement “Women should have the right to decide if they wear a veil.” Turkish and Indonesian Muslims are the most likely to hold that view. In Turkey, where women are banned from wearing a head scarf in public buildings, 93% say women should have the right to decide if they wear a veil. In Indonesia, where wearing a head scarf is mandatory in the Aceh province and encouraged in several others, a similar proportion agrees that women should have the right to decide (91%).

Nigerian Muslims are the most divided on whether women should have the right to decide if they wear a veil. Just over half (51%) say women should have that right and 48% disagree. Only in Ethiopia does a majority of Muslims disagree that women should have the right to decide whether or not to cover their heads. Nearly six-in-ten in that country (59%) disagree and only 39% agree that women should have that right.

Muslim women are generally more likely than Muslim men to say that women should have the right to decide if they wear a veil. Gender differences are especially notable in Morocco, where women express that opinion nearly unanimously (96%), while 71% of men agree. In Ethiopia, where Muslim men are solidly opposed to women having the right to decide – 71% disagree that women should have that right and 28% agree – women are divided. Half of Muslim women in that country disagree and 49% agree that women should have the right to decide if they wear a veil.

The opinion that women should have the right to decide if they wear a veil is more popular than it was five years ago in most countries where trends are available. The change is especially dramatic in Bangladesh, where Islamic fundamentalists have threatened to attack women with sulfuric acid for not covering their faces. In 2002, about six-in-ten Bangladeshi Muslims (59%) said women should have the right to decide if they wear a veil. Today, that number is up to 89%. In Pakistan, where a government official and women’s rights activist was shot dead earlier this year for refusing to cover her head, seven-in-ten Muslims say women should have the right to decide, up from just over half (52%) five years ago.

Divided Views on Women and Men Working Together

When it comes to men and women working together, Muslim publics offer mixed opinions. Solid majorities of Muslims in Indonesia (77%), Tanzania (75%), Turkey (73%), Senegal (69%), and Lebanon (60%) disagree with the statement “There should be restrictions on men and women being employed in the same workplace.” In contrast, clear majorities in Malaysia (80%), the Palestinian territories (77%), Ethiopia (70%), Pakistan (61%), Jordan (60%) and Kuwait (57%) say such restrictions should be in place. In Mali, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Egypt, Muslims are more divided over whether or not there should be restrictions on men and women working together.

Morocco is the only country included in the survey where neither position is endorsed by a majority, but the balance of opinion in that country is in favor of restrictions on men and women being employed in the same workplace. Close to half of Moroccan Muslims (47%) agree that restrictions should be in place, while 37% do not.

While there is no clear consensus among Moroccan Muslims on the question of men and women working in the same workplace, Muslim women in that country are clearly in favor of workplace restrictions. Fully 57% of Muslim women in Morocco express that view, compared with 38% of Muslim men. Women in Lebanon, Tanzania and Nigeria are also considerably more likely than men in those countries to say there should be restriction on men and women being employed in the same workplace.

On the other hand, Muslim women in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Mali are significantly more likely than Muslim men to disagree with such restrictions. For example, in Kuwait, Muslim women are divided, with 48% saying there should be restrictions and 47% saying there should not. Among Muslim men in that country, however, 64% agree that there should be restrictions and 35% disagree.

In five of the eight countries for which trends are available, Muslims today are less likely to agree that there should be restrictions on men and women being employed in the same workplace than they were five years ago. The sharpest drop has been in Tanzania, where about a third of Muslims (34%) agreed with workplace restrictions in 2002 and fewer than one-in-five (19%) express that view today. But in Bangladesh, Jordan and Pakistan more say they agree that there should be restrictions on men and women working together.

In this paper, we use comparative international data to analyze a broad array of issues relating to the global gender gap: Are women “doves” and men “hawks” when it comes to foreign policy and security matters? Do men and women have different beliefs on religion and morality? Is it possible to identify regional patterns in gender differences? And specifically, what are the major fault lines in opinions among men and women in predominantly Muslim countries?

To find the answers to these and other questions, we used the Pew Global Attitudes Project, a series of worldwide public opinion surveys administered by local organizations under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. To date, the Project has interviewed over 74,000 people in 50 populations (49 countries and the Palestinian Authority).

A commentary released by the Project last October addressed some of the general questions about the way men and women view their lives and increasing global interconnectedness. Here are the primary conclusions (Some copies of the release are available at the conference or on the Pew Research Center’s website at people-press.org):

• On the whole, women are happier with their lives and say they’ve made personal progress more than men.
• Within regions, men and women agree on almost every issue addressed, from personal progress to social issues, such as the acceptability of homosexuality.
• Men are more optimistic about the lives of their children and the future than are women.
• When asked about modern electronics and technological advances that are so much a part of the globalizing world, both men and women agree that having these available is a change for the better. But in 37 of 44 countries, “boys” like their high-tech “toys” much more than women.
• Birth control is popular among both the sexes, but in two-thirds of the countries surveyed, women are more likely to think having the ability to control reproduction is a change for the better.

Most people around the world are dissatisfied with the way things are going in their country, but women are most dissatisfied. The difference is greatest in France where 39% of men and only 26% of women are satisfied with national conditions, and in the U.S., where 47% of men are satisfied but only 36% of women agree.This paper builds upon this initial analysis and looks specifically at the opinions of Muslim men and women on issues ranging from religion to social and political values. It also compares these views with those of men and women worldwide. It concludes with a look at how the sexes view current foreign policy issues and terrorism. Several primary conclusions can be drawn from this work:

• Few gender gaps exist among Muslims regarding the role of Islam in political life, and when gender differences do surface, it is within specific countries and not part of a broader pattern.
• Muslim men are more likely to favor more traditional roles for their female counterparts, while more women express a desire to bring gender equality into the workplace and into their marriages.
• Women, particularly in the Muslim world, decline to answer polling questions or say they don’t know at a much higher rate than men. Yet there is a pronounced pattern to their DK/Refusal response, suggesting that it is the type of question that determines whether or not women offer an opinion.
• When attitudes are measured only among those who respond to questions, men and women share similar opinions about the role of Islam in their society, women in the workplace and a host of political and personal issues.
• Suicide bombings and violent acts of killing are not just supported by men. As many women as men in several predominantly Muslim countries say such activities are justified.
• In the most recent survey taken in March 2004, men and women within their own countries in Muslim nations share common views on foreign policy issues and the war in Iraq, suggesting that national identity is more important than gender differences in these cases.
• Among Muslims, there is little difference between the genders on foreign policy issues, the war in Iraq and favorability of world leaders in the U.S. and Europe. However, women are somewhat less likely to express an opinion on these issues.

Muslim Surveys

In the 44-nation survey of the Pew Global Attitudes Project, 14 countries where Muslims are either the overwhelming majority or prominent minorities were asked a series of questions pertaining specifically to the role of Islam and governance. In smaller, subsequent surveys, additional populations were surveyed. Those populations noted as “predominantly Muslim” are Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mali, Senegal and Uzbekistan. Smaller surveys incorporated the Palestinian Authority, Morocco, and Kuwait. Muslims surveyed in countries where they are a minority of their country’s population are Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. In three cases where there are Muslim minorities — Ivory Coast, Ghana and Uganda — gender breakouts are not reported due to small sample size.

Islam and Politics

Majorities in over half of the Muslim nations surveyed say Islam currently plays a large role in the governance of their society and just as many say it should play that role. Overall, men and women share the same views within their countries in nearly every nation surveyed. Only in Uzbekistan and Jordan are there significant gaps in opinion between the sexes. A 12-point gap exists in Uzbekistan with 48% of Uzbek men and 60% of women saying Islam currently plays a large role; in Jordan, more men than women say the role of Islam is significant (58% to 48%).

When asked of the role Islam should play in the governance of their countries, opinions correspond with the respondent’s beliefs in the role Islam currently plays. Majorities of Muslims in 9 of the original 14 nations surveyed said Islam should play a large role. In four others (Lebanon, Turkey, Senegal and Uzbekistan), respondents are split on this issue and only in Tanzania do Muslims say Islam should play a small role in the politics of their country. Again, men and women view the political role of their religion in roughly the same way.

In Nigeria, a country grappling with the issue of Sharia law, it may be surprising to find that women express a stronger belief that Islam should play a large role in the governance of their country. Although more than eight-in-ten respondents of both genders agree that Islam currently plays a large role, only 66% of Nigerian men say they think it should play a large role while 79% of women hold such views. Jordanian men and women hold differing opinions on many issues, the role of Islam being one. Men in Jordan say they want Islam to play a large role in politics much more than women and women are more likely to say that their religion currently plays less of a role in politics than men.

Democracy Can Work Here

Majorities of Muslims surveyed by Pew say that “Western style democracy” can work in their own country, with Indonesia a notable exception. Few Muslims say that democracy is “a Western way of doing things that would not work here.” The latter view is expressed by a majority of Indonesians (53%), and sizable minorities in Turkey and the Palestinian Authority both at 37%.

The belief that democracy can work in their country is shared fairly equally by both men and women. The exception is Bangladesh; 76% of Bangladeshi men and just 42% of Bangladeshi women say democracy can work here. Even after accounting for the higher non-response rate among women, Bangladeshi men believe more strongly than women in the democratic prospects for their countries.

However, the most significant change in the idea of “Western-style democracy” from 2002 to 2003 is the number of women who express an opinion. Perhaps because of the Iraq war and the increased international discussion of regime change in the Middle East, only a quarter of the women in Pakistan did not offer an opinion in 2003, whereas 57% did not do so in 2002. Less dramatically, yet still significantly, the number of men who did not respond decreased 17 points, from 21% in 2002 to 4% in 2003.

Interestingly, since 2002, Turkish respondents (both men and women) have increased their belief that Western-style democracy can work there. While 43% of men and 44% of women held such views in 2002, fully 51% of men and 49% of women said democracy could work in Turkey in 2003.

Democratic Aspirations

In addition to large numbers of both genders saying that democracy could work in their country, many Muslim men and women register high levels of support for the key democratic principles. Majorities in six countries, (Turkey, Mali, Bangladesh, Senegal, Nigeria and Lebanon) say it is very important to be able to live in a country where you can openly say what you think and criticize the government, have freedom of the press, and open and honest elections. Men and women within those countries have nearly identical views about these key freedoms yet women tend to give an opinion much less often than men. This is particularly the case in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Turkey and to a lesser degree elsewhere. Women who do register an opinion place equal importance on these democratic aspirations.

The DK/Refusal Effect

The discrepancy in the way men and women register opinions on various issues mentioned above shows that women, particularly in Muslim countries, respond “don’t know” or “refused” to questions with much more regularity than men. But, interestingly, the kind of question makes a big difference. Two spheres exist, the personal, home sphere dealing directly with women’s roles and personal lives, and a worldly sphere relating to opinions about the government, international problems, and political views. When asked about government policy or whether or not democracy can work in their country, fully 60% of women in Pakistan, (21% of men) 42% of Bangladeshi women (18% of men) and 18% of Turkish women (10% of men) do not register a response. The same is true when asked about the role of Islam in politics. Pakistani men register opinions at a much higher rate than women.

Yet, when asked about personal issues that deal directly with them, women are much more likely to offer a response. For example, when asked to agree or disagree with the statement, “women should have the right to decide if they wear a veil,” only 5% of Pakistani women did not respond, all Bangladeshi women gave a response and only 3% of Turkish women (equal their male counterparts) failed to respond. The dk/refusal rates are nearly identical when asked a series of questions about women’s role in the workplace and religious education.

After accounting for this difference by repercentaging the results between men and women, the findings are striking— the gender gap shrinks to near irrelevance. For example, 68% of Pakistani men said religious leaders should play a larger role in politics, whereas only 57% of women held that view. After accounting for the dk/refusal effect by basing the total on those who registered a response, the percentage of women believing religious leaders should play a larger role in politics was actually greater than men. Fully 84% of women and 74% of men who responded took that view.

The Role of Women in the Workplace

Women may not register opinions at a fairly high rate when asked about politics or government, but it is clear that they willingly share them regarding their roles in the social structure of their country and their personal values. This is especially true when Muslim men and women are asked about women’s roles in society.

In many countries, there is a significant gender gap among Muslims over whether women should be permitted to work outside the home. In Bangladesh, 57% of women completely agree that they should be allowed to work, compared with 36% of men. The gap is nearly as wide in Pakistan, where 41% of women strongly agree with that statement, compared with roughly a quarter of men (24%). Even in countries where Muslims broadly support women’s right to work outside the home, such as Lebanon and Turkey, differences between men and women are sizable.

Indonesia and Jordan are notable exceptions to this pattern. In those countries, support for women working is equally weak among members of both sexes. Just 24% of Muslim women in Indonesia, and 20% of men, strongly agree that women should work outside the home, and support is even lower in Jordan (16% to 13% respectively).

There is less of a gender gap over restrictions against men and women being employed in the same workplace. In most cases, women are as supportive of these restrictions as are men. While women in Bangladesh are much more likely than men to strongly favor the right of women to hold jobs, they also are more supportive of separating men and women in the workplace. More than a third of Muslim women in Bangladesh (36%) completely agree that such restrictions are appropriate, compared with 20% of Muslim men.

Type of Marriage

Questions on the role of women in the workplace were not only asked of Muslims. In the Global Attitudes Project inaugural survey in 2002, publics around the world were asked to identify the type of marriage that was most appealing to them. Majorities throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa expressed the desire for both spouses to have jobs and share in household and child care duties. A majority of Americans agree, but to a lesser degree than many Africans and Turks, with 58% of the total U.S. population surveyed supporting both spouses working and 37% disagreeing. There is a large difference of opinion among predominantly Muslim countries, such as Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan, which are the sole countries to favor the more traditional role of women, where the man provides the income and the woman takes care of the household and children.

Homosexuality, Religion and Morality

The Global Attitudes Project reported a gaping transatlantic divide on social issues from the acceptability of homosexuality to social welfare between the U.S. and Europe. While the two regions are divided, another transatlantic gender gap also exists. Women in the U.S. are more accepting of homosexuality than American men, as are nearly all western European women.

Even among Muslims in regions as diverse as Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh and Lebanon, women express views of acceptance for homosexuality more than their male counterparts. The outlaying exceptions are Italy where both genders register almost equally large endorsements for homosexual acceptability (73% of men and 71% of women), and among Muslims in Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Jordan where an equally insignificant difference between the genders opposes homosexuality.

Women around the world say religion is more important to them than men in every region, in highly religious countries such as those in Latin America and in more secular societies such as Canada and Europe. Only in Muslim countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia, where nearly everyone expressed the importance of religion in their lives, were there few gaps between genders. On the question of whether or not you have to believe in God to be a moral person, women in 34 of 39 countries (question not permitted in China, Vietnam, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt) say that belief in God is tantamount to personal morality. Where men hold this opinion more than women, it is only by a slim margin—for example in France 16% of men and 10% of women hold this opinion and in Nigeria the margin is 86% to 84% respectively.

With women expressing greater importance of religion in their lives, how do Muslim women feel about religious education for their children? The Muslim world is divided over whether schools should focus more on ‘practical’ subjects and less on religious education. Half of the countries surveyed, including Turkey and Uzbekistan, support putting greater emphasis on practical education and several other countries, notably Indonesia, Pakistan and Jordan strongly oppose this idea. Yet despite the difference in male and female attitudes toward religion in Muslim societies, there is no large gap between the genders on religious education. The greatest difference is found in Nigeria where 26% of men completely agree that practical education should be given precedent with only 18% of women saying the same thing. Elsewhere, in Turkey, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, men and women mirror each other’s response.

Muslim men and women are also in agreement within their own countries on whether their religion should tolerate diverse interpretations of Islam’s teachings or if there is only one true interpretation of those teachings. The only significant gender gap is in Pakistan where 39% of women who offered a response favor diversity with 27% of men agreeing.

Threats to Islam

The perception that there are serious threats to Islam is widespread and growing in the Muslim world. This is most pronounced in Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and the Palestinian Authority, where over two thirds of respondents in each country see Islam threatened. But this view is not limited to that region alone. Since the war in Iraq, over half of Indonesians (59%), Pakistanis (64%) and half of Turks feel major threats to their religion. These proportions are all up considerably since the Pew survey began polling in 2002, before the war in Iraq. Even in Nigeria, respondents saying Islam is seriously threatened have doubled since 2002, from 21% to 42%.

Men in most places feel threat more intensely than women, with the exception of Uzbekistan where women site serious threats to Islam by 4 percentage points over men. The biggest gender gap in opinion exists in Senegal where 71% of men see Islam threatened, but only 45% of women and Bangladesh (59% and 33% respectively). But the largest shift in opinion from 2002 to 2003 was in Pakistan. In the span of one year, men seeing a threat jumped 17 percentage points while women perceiving threats to Islam skyrocketed from 19% to 70%.

But what are these serious threats? Polling in 2002, prior to the US-led war in Iraq, found that people were not primarily worried about external, political, military or cultural threats. Instead most cited internal threats within their own country, such as government interference with religion, a diminishing commitment to Muslim teachings and schools among the young, or a lack of Islamic unity and moral decline.

Men and women express very different views of threats to Islam. Men list “terrorism” more often than women and also say that the U.S. and the West pose larger threats to Islam than their female counterparts. This is particularly prominent in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Women see local government and politics as larger threats to their religion, especially in Indonesia and Turkey. Women around the Muslim world agree that internal religious issues and the direction of Muslim education within their countries pose large problems for Islam. This is particularly distinct in Turkey where twice as many women than men say religious issues within Islam are the main threat to their faith.

Lebanon and Jordan are exceptional in that both sexes cite external threats to Islam more often than internal threats, a departure from any other country surveyed. There, terrorism and U.S./Western threats and even the influence of other religions far outweigh any internal threats to their religion. In addition, men and women share in this opinion equally, with nearly identical emphasis placed on those threats outside their country.

Similarly, the genders in Uzbekistan have few discrepancies in their responses on this issue, each saying that people within their own country (specifically Vakhabists, or religious fundamentalists) posed the largest threat to their religion. The threat of terrorism was also of primary concern to Uzbek men and women and they agreed to equal degree that the problem threatened their religion.

In sum, women in the Muslim world are more focused on internal threats to Islam, whereas men are more threatened by the other religions and the U.S./Western war on terrorism.

Suicide bombings

In the 14 Muslim countries surveyed in the inaugural 2002 poll, men were more likely to say suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilian targets is justifiable than women. However, the gaps between the sexes are not large, with two contrasting exceptions. In Nigeria, a majority of men say suicide bombing is justifiable (56%) and only 36% of women say so. But 4,500 miles to the east in Pakistan, a majority of women who gave a response say such violence is justifiable much more than men. The re-percentaged ratio shows that 55% of women compared with 37% of men believed suicide bombing could be justified.

In an era where women are themselves joining the ranks of suicide bombers in the Middle East, it may come as little surprise that nearly three quarters (72%) of Lebanese women agree with their male counterparts that such actions are justifiable. In Jordan, the number of women sharing that view slightly outnumbers men, 45% to 41%.

Two additional questions regarding suicide bombing were asked in 2004 using specific scenarios. One asked about the justifiability of suicide bombing carried out by Palestinians against Israeli citizens and the other asked about such acts carried out against American and other Westerners in Iraq. When presented with these two cases, the number of people in all four countries saying that violence is justified, increased, and, in Turkey, increased considerably.

But the most astonishing figures come from Muslim women in Jordan and Morocco. There, more women than men say suicide bombings against Israeli citizens are justified, with fully 89% of Jordanian women and 77% of Moroccan women saying so compared with 85% and 71% of their male counterparts respectively. In Pakistan and Turkey, more Muslim men than women say such acts of violence are justified, yet still 33% of Pakistani women say so compared with 31% of Turkish men and 17% of Turkish women.

The same pattern holds when asked about suicide bombing of Americans and other westerners in Iraq. Again, Jordanian and Moroccan women believe these acts are justifiable by a slight margin over men in their country, whereas it is the men in Pakistan and Turkey who say this.

Foreign Policy and the War in Iraq

This paper has focused primarily on Muslim views but it is worth noting that men and women within their countries have very similar views of foreign policy issues. A nine country survey March 2004 examined the war in Iraq one year after it began and revisited some of the same questions about the America’s image in the world and U.S.-European relations that the inaugural survey examined. A few key points are worth mentioning. Overall, there is little difference in the views of men and women on most foreign policy questions, issues dealing with the Iraq war and use of force within their own countries. In addition, no clear regional patterns emerge.

One interesting finding from the new survey supports Pew’s original analysis– that men in all countries except Britain express more optimism about their lives and those of their children. In 2004 men believe people from their country who move to the United States have a better life more than women. This is especially true in Jordan where 38% of men believe immigrants to America are better off, but only 25% of women agree. In Britain women are only slightly more hopeful of the lives of British immigrants with 43% believing them better off and men just behind at 40%.

What is apparent is that the DK/Refusal effect both widens and narrows the gender gap with regard to foreign policy questions. As noted previously, women in all parts of the world are less likely to give an opinion on political issues than men, but taking that into account only muddies the picture and highlights the importance of intra-country differences.

After accounting for the higher rats of opinion giving, Pakistani men and women tend to fall further apart on most questions, yet in most other nations, the gap narrows. Three examples exemplify this finding: When asked to rate the United Nations, men in six of nine countries surveyed have a more favorable view of the world institution than women. Yet, due to the DK/Refused effect, women in six of nine countries rate the U.N better than men and the gap is narrowed in all of the remaining three. Smaller differences in view on foreign policy questions such as the relationship between the U.S. and Western Europe and pre-emption, show the same pattern, where, after accounting for opinion registry women and men the gender gaps narrow.

Conclusion

This analysis fails to detect any systematic difference between the genders when it comes to issues of governance, foreign policy and current international conflicts. Only on specific domestic issues of particular immediacy to men and women do the genders differ in their views. The data suggest the historic gender gap has diminished and one’s sex does not appear to predict opinion on a variety of issues the way it once did. The findings outlined here are only a first step, not the definitive work measuring opinion differences. Future in-depth analysis of other important cleavages such as age and education will be crucial to our understanding of ways in which men and women voice their opinions and which issues gender differences will surface in the future. For in the end, we may find we are not so different after all.

Women are somewhat happier than men with their lives overall, according to 38,000 interviews in 44 countries conducted by the Pew Research Center for the Pew Global Attitudes Survey. And, compared with five years ago, the women surveyed reported more often than men that they had made progress in their lives.

The global gender gap is not limited to happiness, for it also reflects differing life perspectives. Women show greater concern about issues that directly affect the family and home life. Men express more concern about issues outside the home and more optimism about the future. Men are happier with their family life and more optimistic about what lies ahead for their children.

Rating One’s Life

All over the world, men and women in the same country had roughly the same response to a question asking them where they stand in achieving their lives’ goals. The happiest people (both men and women) live in Canada and the United States among the countries Pew surveyed. The people least satisfied with their lives live in Eastern Europe and parts of Africa.

However, the Pew survey also detected that women give their lives a better rating in 29 of 44 countries surveyed. In some countries the differences between genders is very small and in others it is quite significant. Women’s greater satisfaction with life is pervasive in many of the less-developed regions of the world: in 7 of the 8 countries surveyed in Asia, 6 of the 8 nations in Latin America and all 5 nations in east and southern Africa. In particular, women are much happier than men in Japan, India, the Philippines, Pakistan and Argentina. In contrast, men and women in Western Europe and Canada are quite similar in the way they judge their lives.

Women in most countries also tend to be more satisfied than men with the personal progress they have made in recent years. In three-fifths of the countries surveyed (26 of 44) more women than men feel they are better off now than they were five years ago. Moreover, in 10 of those nations–including the United States (52%) and Nigeria (69%)-more than half the women surveyed say their lives have improved.

For better or worse, men and women within the same regions assess their life’s progress similarly. In West Africa both sexes say they have made the most personal progress (65% of men and 69% of women say they are better off). In sharp contrast, both men and women in the Conflict Area–from Uzbekistan to Egypt- agree they have lost ground. In those nations only 55% of men and 40% of women say they have lost ground.

When asked about the electronic gadgets that have come to symbolize progress in the modern world, men and women overwhelmingly agree that recent technological developments have been a change for the better. But “boys” are much fonder of their new high-tech “toys.”

In 37 of 44 countries, more men than women give cell phones a thumbs up. And, although strong majorities of women in most countries also think mobile phones have made life better, there are vocal dissenters. Two-in-five Japanese women and one-in-three British and Canadian women say cell phones have made life worse.

Men and women similarly like to surf the web. The only notable opposition to the internet is in Jordan, where more than half the women (54%) think it is a change for the worse, and in the United States, where a quarter (25%) of women criticize it. As with cell phone use, some of the strongest support for these new technologies, especially among men, is in Africa, where there is the least access to both the internet and cell phones.

Another technological achievement, birth control, is widely popular among both men and women. But in two-thirds of the countries surveyed (29 of 44) women are more likely to think that the ability to control reproduction is a change for the better. Men and women are most at odds over the pill and other such devices in Latin America. In Guatemala and Honduras, for example, two-in-three women support family planning, while one-in-four men oppose it.

Women More Focused on Home, But Less Happy with Family Life

When asked to reflect on specific aspects of their lives, women are inwardly focused, showing more concern about issues that affect them and their families. Men are more concerned with problems outside the home. For example, men in more countries mentioned the actions of the government and work-related difficulties when asked an open-ended question about the most important problem facing their family. Women in more countries volunteer health problems and difficulties with children and education. As might be expected, economic hardships are the most frequently cited concerns by both sexes.

Despite, or possibly because of their outward focus, men rate their family life better than women. In 26 of 44 societies, men surveyed say they are very satisfied with life at home. The greatest disagreement between men and women over family life is in Eastern Europe, notably Ukraine and the Czech Republic, where men are much happier than women about their home life. Overall, women are less happy with their family life in each of the six Eastern European nations included in the survey. But when assessing household income, women say they are more satisfied than men in 25 of 44 nations. The poll finds women in poorer nations happier with their incomes than men, while in richer counties there is less of a gender difference in opinions about one’s income.

Gender Gap on View of Country

Most people are dissatisfied with the way things are going in their country, and in half the nations surveyed women are the most dissatisfied. The greatest disagreements between the sexes are in France, where 39% of men but only 26% of women are satisfied with national conditions, and in the United States, where 47% of men are satisfied but only 36% of women agree.

In the industrial world, the people who are gloomiest about the national state of affairs are women over age 50 in both North America (65%) and Western Europe (74%). Those who are most upbeat are middle-aged men, ages 30-49, in North America (50%) and younger men, ages 18-29, in Western Europe (40%).

Younger men and women in these regions share fairly similar perspectives on the state of their nation up to about age 30. But in middle and old age, their views diverge sharply, as women’s satisfaction with the state of their nation declines.

When asked an open-ended question about what are the most important problems their nation faces, economics and politics are most often cited. But with regard to other issues, respondents loosely reflected gender-specific concerns. In a majority of societies, women mention troubles with children and education, health and the environment more often than men. Men single out political issues more than women do.

Regarding specific national problems, women are more likely to be worried about concerns closer to home. For example, in two-thirds of the countries surveyed (29 of 44), women are more likely than men to say moral decline is a very big problem. And in 31 of 44 nations studied, women are more likely than men to think that AIDS and other diseases are a very important national issue. At the same time, in a majority of countries (25), men are more likely than women to say corrupt political leaders are a major challenge for the country.

Women in 30 of 44 nations flag crime as a very big national problem. This is particularly the case in North America, where 56% of women say it is a very big problem but only 38% of men agree.

Men and women are equally worried about immigration, but women are much more concerned about emigration. In 29 of 44 countries women are more troubled than men about people leaving the country, possibly because women are the most likely to be left at home caring for the children, the parents and family farm or business while their husbands, sons and brothers go in search of work. This gender difference is particularly acute in countries such as Mexico, Pakistan and Bangladesh that have sent significant numbers of men to the industrial world.

Men More Concerned with WMD

Both men and women are dissatisfied with the state of the world. The only major disagreements between the sexes are in India, where men are much more unhappy about global affairs than women are, and in France and the United States, where women are more dissatisfied. As with their concerns about the state of the nation, the unhappiest people in North America and Western Europe are both men and women over the age of 50.

Women around the world say AIDS and other infectious diseases are the greatest threats to the world. In 40 of 44 nations women outnumber men identifying disease as a problem. But in two-thirds of the countries, men are more likely to mention religious and ethnic hatred as a global threat. And by the same margin, men are more likely to identify the problems posed by the spread of nuclear weapons.

The Future

In more than half (24 of 44) the countries surveyed men are more optimistic about their personal futures than are women. This includes the United States, where 62% of men and 59% of women have a favorable view of what lies ahead. Both sexes are particularly upbeat about the future in West Africa, where 86% of men and 87% of women are optimistic. The most pessimistic are men and women in Eastern and Southern Africa, where one-in-five (19%) of those surveyed have a negative view of the future.

One factor in men’s optimism is their rosy view of what lies ahead for their children. In 27 of 44 countries men are more likely than women to think that the next generation will have a better life. The men in West Africa are the most confident about this. The least confident about the next generation’s prospects are Guatemalan men (75% think children will be worse off) Japanese women (71%) and German women (68%). Strikingly, more than half the men in Western Europe, Eastern and Southern Africa and the Conflict Area plus more than half the women in North America, Western Europe and Eastern and Southern Africa think the future will be worse for children. The greatest disparity in views about children’s future is in Canada, where 45% of men but only 24% of women think children will have it better.