The 2011 Arab uprisings re-ignited global interest in the role that Islam and Islamist parties play in democratic transitions, especially with regard to women's lawful rights to share in governance and leadership. This book advances a theory of party religiosity to explain women's leadership across parties and countries, drawing on robust qualitative and quantitative findings from cross-national multiple cases and a case-study of Lebanon. The theory travels across 330 parties in 26 different countries - in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It is powerful and generalizable with explanatory and predictive powers.

Exploring the interlinkages of political parties, religiosity, and women's leadership and nominations to public office, this book argues that as party religiosity increases, women's chances of assuming leadership positions fall. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, it advances a new theory of party variation in religiosity.