Although Women position in the labor market of the MENA region has improved in the past few years, female participation is the MENA region is still ranked as the lowest in the world (World Bank 55). Many reasons behind that lag were highlighted in the readings. Even though several structural reforms took place, the phenomena of female limited participation persists. Thus it seems that the problem does not lie in the demand side of female labor or the structure of the institutions, as much as it lies in the supply side. In other words, women’s decreased participation is accounted to the prevalent stereotypes, social and cultural norms in the region. Such norms that are holding many women from being active in the labor market had prevailed for so long, shaping both employer and women expectations of the labor market demands- making occupational segregation by sex in the MENA region inevitable.
Progress and gender diversity varies significantly from country to country and tends to reflect how women are viewed in a region’s society. The gender gap index, which examines “the gap between men & women based on economic, political, education & health criteria”, is an effective measure to benchmark the national gender gap of each country. According to the Global Gender Gap report 2013 by the World Economic forum, the gap exists the most in Arab countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and many other countries. This paper will attempt to prove that this gap is mostly accounted to the prevalent cultural norms in the MENA region.
Gender stereotypes and cultural norms have lead to discriminatory occupational segregation based on gender. Women are expected to work in certain occupations that are “gender appropriate”- limi...
... middle of paper ...
... and Gendered Labor Market : Evidence from Egypt” Centre for European economic research (Germany: Ithaca Press); (MN 55455
Women's Business Council, Maximising Women's Contribution to Future Economic Growth (2013): 1-53.
World Economic Forum (2013), Global Gender Gap.
Hijab N. Womanpower: The Arab Debate on Women at Work. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]: Cambridge University Press; 1988.
Shaw RP. Mobilizing Human Resources in the Arab World. Boston: Kegan Paul International; 1983.
World Bank (2004), Gender and Development in the Middle East and North Africa : Women in the Public Sphere (WashingtonDC : World Bank), Chapter 3.
World Bank (2004), Gender and Development in the Middle East and North Africa: Women in the Public Sphere (WashingtonDC : World Bank), Chapter 4.
Yusuf Sidani. Women, work, and Islam in Arab societies. Women in Management Review. 2005;20:498-512
Sex Segregation in the Work Place In the article “Sex Segregation at Work: Persistence and Change” by Anastasia Prokos explores ideas around the challenges and reasons of sex segregation in the work place. She argues that even though the United States has made several steps in the right direction throughout our history, there is still “… women and men in the contemporary United States continue to be concentrated in different occupations, jobs, and industries” (Prokos 564). She is presenting this as a social problem that leads to stereotypes, discrimination, and unequal pay.
The argument that oil is the cause of women’s underrepresentation in government and in the workforce is valid and proved in the article, “Oil, Islam, and Women” written by Ross. As the oil industry becomes increasingly better, women will disappear from the workforce and in return disappear from the government. The production of oil is good only to the economy of the states with oil; however, it is increasingly threatening to women’s independence. For women to gain any independence, they must start by entering the workforce.
...e Do Females Stand In The Saudi Labour Market?" Ahfad Journal 25.2 (2008): 57-84. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Gender segregation refers to the employment of men and women in different industries, occupations, firms, or jobs. A growing body of literature has documented the extensiveness of gender segregation and has attempted to explain its origins (see Reskin, 1993, for a review). Gender segregation is a major cause of the gender gap in wages, benefits, and retirement income (Perman & Stevens, 1989; Reskin & Hartmann, 1986; Treiman & Hartmann, 1981). Also, female-dominated jobs provide fewer opportunities for training and formal mobility than male-dominated jobs (Baron, Davis-Blake, & Bielby, 1986; Bielby & Baron, 1986; Halaby, 1979), and women's concentration in lower level positions may make them more vulnerable to repeated unemployment than
"Report: The Women in the Middle East Workplace 2011 - Survey." National Council for Research on Women. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
It is primarily evident that a lot of amendments have been made in the field of employment to achieve a sense of work place equality for men and women. However, there is the understanding that the topic of inequality and inequity is still persistent in contemporary society. It is manifest that there are a numerous amount of barriers that females endure in the workplace environment, and this binary is occurring because of their gender roles. This paper’s intent is to recognize that the concept of gender stratification experienced in the occupational spectrum causes the downward social mobility for females. The focus of this paper is to further investigate the argument that women in the workplace are still facing numerous amounts of impediments,
The Women of the Middle East have played substantial roles for their corresponding countries since the advent of colonialism in the region. Middle Eastern women have worked in all types of fields including medicine, education, agriculture, government, private sector, and even defense. They have kept roofs over their family’s heads while their husbands were away in wars, or even in foreign countries to work in jobs that they could not find in their own countries. The roles of women in the countries of Yemen and Oman are no exception, but while they still find ways to contribute to their country, they care constantly stereotyped, discriminated, and ridiculed by men who are known and unknown to them. This paper will discuss the individual contributions of the women living in Yemen and Oman, and will discuss in further state laws and cultural norms that are affecting the women living in these countries today.
Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992.
The Web. The Web. 7 Feb. 2012. Krause, Wanda C. "Gender: Gender and Politics." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa.
The gender gap in labor force participation (LFP) in Iran is much larger than most other countries, but it has been declining. Also, the composition of women’s employment has been shifting towards professional and entrepreneurial positions, especially in the private sector (Salehi Esfahani 2010). Since Iran has similar labor market conditions like other countries in the Middle East and North African region, examining the forces behind the above mentioned patterns will help in coming up with potential specific policies to address the changes in the female labor force participation rate. When we examine the change in the participation rate of the female labor force, we must analyze the main forces that led to that change. We also need to look at whether societal norms and ideologies have anything to do with the changes in the female LPF rates.
We begin this literature review by discussing the effects of country and how the differences between the nations can have an effect on gender roles.
The opportunities available to women in the market are not as diverse as those presented to men. Still, the construct of gender ideology influences how employers undertake economic decisions, and that is why companies still have jobs labelled as “men’s work” and occupations categorized as “women’s work.” Indeed, the pervasiveness of gender differences in labor markets is undeniably true, specifically with respect to salary gap between men and women, occupational gender segregation of men and women, and the challenge that women face in terms of juggling their time and attention between their career and family life. There is no denying that the salary of men is far more than that of women’s. In the Great Britain (and other parts of the globe), there are pieces of evidence which suggest that gendered practices of participation in the labor force still have significant impact on the economic security level that men and women develop over the course of their lives (Warren 606).
“Women’s human security rights in the Arab world: on nobody's agenda.” 50.50 Inclusive Democracy, 2 Dec. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
It can be concluded that women are treated in terms of stereotyped impressions of being the lowest class and greater evidence can be found that there are large disparities between the women and the men 's class. It can be seen that women are more likely to play casual roles as they are most likely to take seasonal and part time work so that they can work according to their needs. They are hampered from progressing upward into the organizations as they face problems like lack of health insurance, sexual harassments, lower wage rates, gender biases and attitudes of negative behavior. However, this wouldn’t have hampered the participation of the women in the work force and they continue to increase their efforts which is highly evident in the occupational and job ratios of females in the industry.
It is true of Africa that women constitute a treasure that remains largely hidden. (Moleketi 10) African women grow 90% of all African produce, and contribute about 70% of Africa’s agricultural labor every year. (Salmon 16) Both the labor and food that are provided by African women go towards the increase in Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). (Moleketi 10) Although African women are feeding the majority of Africa’s inhabitants, the constricting ropes of gender inequality are still holding them back from being appreciated and living up to their full potential. Outstandingly, women such as President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, of Liberia, have gladly accepted the challenge of breaking free of these ropes. The history of women’s rights in Africa, the glass ceiling, and the modern aspects of women’s rights, all play prominent roles in the overall condition of women’s rights in Africa. Until the day arrives that these discriminatory injustices are corrected, individuals in African nations will continue to struggle.