# The First Lady Phenomenon: Elites, States, and the Contradictory Politics of Women’s Empowerment in the Neoliberal Arab World

**Category:** first_lady_phenomenon / gender_politics / civil_society  
**Author/source:** Mayssoun Sukarieh  
**DOI:** https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-3426421  
**Publisher page:** https://read.dukeupress.edu/cssaame/article-abstract/35/3/575/59935  
**KCL metadata page:** https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/the-first-lady-phenomenon-elites-states-and-the-contradictory-pol/  
**Local extracted archive:** `../archived/extracted/first-lady-phenomenon-sukarieh-kcl-aam.md`  
**Local raw captures:** `../archived/raw/first-lady-phenomenon-sukarieh-kcl-aam.archive.pdf`, `../archived/raw/first-lady-phenomenon-sukarieh-kcl-aam.archive.txt`  
**Wayback snapshot:** https://web.archive.org/web/20220320072227/https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/99429696/The_First_Ladies_Phenomenon_Published1January2015_GREEN_AAM.pdf

## Why it matters

This is the missing source on Queen Rania and Asma al-Assad as first-lady figures, civil-society actors, and symbols of contradictory elite/state women’s empowerment projects in the neoliberal Arab world.

## Use

- Use as a theoretical frame for Asma’s Syria Trust / civil society / NGO role.
- Use the publisher page for formal citation metadata and final pagination.
- Use the local extracted archive for reading and project search.