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There is strong support in some Arab countries for greater equality between men and women, although opinion remains divided over traditional issues such as the Islamic veil, according to an opinion poll released by the United Nations on Thursday.
About 1,000 people were surveyed in each of four countries -- Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco -- for the annual UN "Arab Human Development Report", which focused on inequalities facing women in Arab nations.
Ninety-eight percent of those surveyed agreed that girls should have the same right to education as boys all the way through to university.
That result was particularly interesting given that the UN report showed that Arab nations as a whole have the world's lowest rates of girls enrolled in secondary school.
Ninety one percent said women should also have an equal right to work and 78 percent overall said they should have the same working conditions.
There was an even higher level of support -- over 91 percent -- for allowing women to have property, and to own and manage economic projects.
The vast majority -- 95 percent -- said a woman should be allowed to choose her husband and all countries overwhelmingly condemned -- 97 percent -- physical or mental abuse of women.
But traditional societal pressures were more evident when it came to polygamy, marriage, intermingling of men and women in society and the wearing of the hijab.
A majority of respondents in all countries disagreed with polygamy, from 62 percent in Morocco to 90 percent in Lebanon. But the poll revealed strong differences between the sexes on this issue, with women more opposed to the practice than men.
Opinion over the Islamic veil was also divided within countries. About half said women should only wear the hijab if it was their own decision. But another 43 to 50 percent in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco said women must be obliged to wear it.
Differences of opinion between nations emerged on women's political rights -- extending from Egypt at the lower extreme to Lebanon at the higher.
The idea of women taking part in political action or holding ministerial posts were supported by 79 percent and 76 percent of respondents respectively.
But they were more hostile to having a woman president. A total 72 percent of Egyptians and 59 percent of Jordanians opposed the idea of a woman head of state, against 40 percent of Moroccans and just 17.5 percent of Lebanese.
Nonetheless, 62 percent overall acknowledged that women were close to, or even better than, men in leadership roles.
The UN issued a caveat with the report, pointing out that what people said and what they actually did were not always the same.
"These results must also be understood in the light of the well-known distinction -- recognised as being potentially great -- between attitudes and actual behaviour on the one hand, and the limited abilities of regimes in the Arab countries to give expression to the popular will on the other," the report said.
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AFP 061206 GMT 12 06
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