Arab Perceptions of Gender as Mirrored in the Search for a Kidney Donor

With a critical shortage of cadaver kidneys available for transplantation worldwide, many end stage renal disease patients currently expire while they are on a cadaver transplant waiting list. There is thus a need to understand the alternative mode, live-related kidney donation, and the social circumstances affecting it. This research explores the attitudes of students in a hypothetical scenario, “Search for a Kidney Donor.” It focuses on gender stereotypes concerning who among the patient's relatives is most likely to volunteer a kidney. The subjects were female medical students in the United Arab Emirates. The findings are interpreted in relation to prominent characteristics of Arab culture: patriarchalism, familism, and pronatalism.