Work

Attitudes towards Islamic Inheritance: Religious or Patriarchal Preferences?

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The Islamic inheritance law puts women at a distributive disadvantage leading to gender inequality in wealth accumulation. Religiosity and patriarchy are often blamed for the persistence of gender inequality in Muslim-majority countries. Employing an online vignette experiment, we examine whether religious and pro-male preferences reinforce gender inequality in inheritance in Egypt. We find that religious individuals prefer to abide by the inheritance law and its distributive inequality. We also find that individuals with pro-male cultural beliefs prefer to avoid the inheritance law only selectively to protect the male distributive advantage. Put together, we find that both religiosity and pro-male cultural beliefs are impediments to achieving gender equality in inheritance in Egypt.

Source: Review of Law & Economics

DOI: 10.1515/rle-2024-0066

Authors: Dina Rabie, Nora El-Bialy

Institutions: Northeastern University London, London School of Economics and Political Science, Universität Hamburg

Language: English

Topic: Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,712