Globalization of Human Rights and Reform of the System for the Protection of Women’s Rights in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf: A Comparative Study of Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Adopting a review-based comparative approach and drawing on Persian, Arabic, and English sources, the present study examines the impact of the globalization of human rights on the reform of women’s rights protection systems in six Arab states of the Persian Gulf: Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. The findings indicate that, despite their accession to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the countries under study have restricted the scope of their obligations through extensive reservations, particularly in matters relating to family, marriage, and nationality. This situation has resulted in a form of “symbolic acceptance” of global standards on women’s rights. Reforms undertaken in these countries have primarily focused on the economic sphere, employment, and women’s professional empowerment and have largely been aligned with economic development requirements, labor market needs, and national development programs. By contrast, fundamental areas of gender inequality, including personal status laws, guardianship, divorce, inheritance, and child custody, remain substantially influenced by patriarchal structures and traditional jurisprudential interpretations. A comparative analysis of the countries under study reveals three distinct patterns: a minimal and tradition-oriented model in Oman and Saudi Arabia; an intermediate and symbolic model in Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain; and a controlled-transition model in the United Arab Emirates. A common feature of all three patterns is the existence of a structural gap between governments’ formal commitments, legal reforms, and women’s lived realities. Accordingly, the principal challenge confronting women’s rights in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf lies not in the absence of laws and legal instruments, but rather in weak institutional commitment, ineffective implementation mechanisms, and the lack of a localized theoretical framework for the interpretation and application of human rights. Therefore, reconstructing the system for the protection of women’s rights requires a transition from symbolic reforms to structural reforms, a fundamental reconsideration of personal status laws, the strengthening of independent civil society institutions, and the development of an indigenous discourse on women’s rights grounded in human dignity, equality, and gender justice.