Gender and participation in the Arab Gulf

This paper attempts to explain the significance of women’s participation in government supported organizations in the Arab Gulf states. Looking especially at the official women’s government-organized non-governmental organizations, it questions how they assist government objectives and influence change. In this endeavour, it suggests looking beyond the usual rentier-state paradigm by using broader frameworks for the study of state–society relations. With the aid of governmentality literature, it illustrates how women’s participation through such avenues serves to reconfigure the state. It further demonstrates that these organizations have the ability to play a significant role in development, and, infact, function as the most important modality of state governance.