The Economic situation plays a major role, since there is an importance of a stake in the economy; an example being where Urbanization in Turkey gave new gender roles since they moved into the city and more opportunities opened up. If state ideology and economic situations are not strong enough points to demonstrate why Islam is not the sole promoter of gender inequality; scholars such as Kandiyoti and Barlas argue that in Islamic history, females have had important roles in Islamic history and also that patriarchy is routed in culture and geography and not in religion. The main point being said is that Islam itself does not promote gender inequality; though it has been seen as a tool of "promotion" of gender inequality, but one can add that even if muslims have wrongfully promoted gender inequality in the name of Islam, that is not solely reason behind gender inequality in the Middle East. .
To keep it straightforward Patriarchy is seen as a system in the society where men are above women as "father figures", where they hold political and moral authority. An interview of Dr.Carol Gilligan (Gilligan, C: 2013) on this topic was conducted, and she gave an interesting definition of feminism. Dr. Carol argued that people believe that feminism is against men or that "feminists" want to be better or see male vs female as a competition and power of struggle. Dr. Carol Gilligan defines feminists as someone who fights against patriarchy; where they want to get the same treatment as men do in their perspective. Barlas (2002:23) explains that in Islam "Rabb" means God which neither means Him or Her or father, it plainly means God which shows that any kind of patriarchy towards a male God in Islamic "universe" is non-existent. A point that could be made is that In Islam if patriarchy was the case, fathers would get the biggest importance in the family; it could be argued that decision-making is often commanded by the father though that has to do with culture and not religion.