The Feminist Movement in the Gulf

The feminist movement in the Gulf appeared long after its Egyptian or Bilad al-Sham counterparts. This was due to the weight of social traditions, which denied women presence and participation in public life, and to the delay in starting girls’ education compared to the education of boys. Gulf states did not begin educating girls until after the oil surge, which helped them set the pillars for modern states. The first state school for girls in Bahrain was inaugurated in 1938, over a quarter of a century after the inauguration of the first boys’ school. It was not until the early ‘70s of the past century that girls’ schools were inaugurated or spread in the Sultanate of Oman and some emirates on the Omani Coast (the United Arab Emirates today).