This article explores how there is significant symbolic effect in the Middle East context through examining three different contexts: Palestinian Hamas in the Palestinian election in 2006 where there was a 20% quota for female candidates, Egyptian Muslim Brothers in 2010 where 64 seats were reserved and added to the Egyptian Parliament, and voluntary quotas used in the Islamic movement in Israel as there are no legislated quotas. Egyptian and Palestinian parties claimed that the quotas were not a foreign feminist agenda but a religious one. The article argues that by claiming the quota as a religious decision as opposed to a mandated requirement is beneficial as it prevents the women as being labelled as 'quota women' and incompetent as candidates.