A gendered analysis of trends in the faith-based provision of social services: Evidence from Egypt and Turkey

Abstract

The involvement of faith-based organizations in the provision of social welfare has been popular in discourse and policy over the last several decades. This policy is often recommended as a remedy to the underfunded and underdeveloped social welfare system in late industrializing countries. This paper aims to discuss the implications of this recommended policy on women in the MENA region. This question is significant because women in the MENA region need social services as they have the lowest labor market participation in the world and they have been disproportionately affected by poverty over the last decade, a trend exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on fieldwork and utilizing both qualitative and quantitative sources, this paper discusses evidence from two country cases in the MENA region, Egypt and Turkey. The paper argues that the provision of social welfare by faith-based organizations falls short in providing a substitute or alternative to publicly funded and universally provided social services for women because the provision of these services is inconsistent and unreliable and could be coopted by the government. Egypt represents a case in which the al-Sisi regime adopted a confrontational strategy toward the Muslim Brotherhood and dismembered its services, while Turkey represents a case in which government coopts faith-based organizations for political gain.