Transcript Slide 1
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Young Arab Women Leaders
The Voice Of The Future
Haneen Sayed
Human Development Coordinator
Regional Youth Co-Coordinator
Middle East and North Africa Region
World Bank
September 20, 2012
Beirut – Lebanon
MENA countries have made impressive achievements
in closing gender gap in education
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Female to Male Ratio of Enrollment Rates
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Women in MENA are living longer
3
Female Life expectancy at birth (years)
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Middle East & North Africa
East Asia & Pacific
Europe & Central Asia
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America & Caribbean
However, aspirations are unmet in economic sphere:
Low rates of workforce participation, high rates of
unemployment
4
Female labor force participation in MENA is half the world average
World average FLP
Kuwait*
Young women face high rates of unemployment across the region
West Bank and Gaza
United Arab Emirates
UAE*
Tunisia
Qatar*
Syrian Arab Republic
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia*
Qatar
Djibouti
Morocco
Yemen
Lebanon
West Bank and Gaza
Kuwait
Iraq
Jordan
Iran, Islamic Rep.
Morocco
Egypt, Arab Rep.
Jordan
Bahrain
Egypt
-10%
Algeria
10%
30%
Women
Men
50%
70%
90%
0
10
Unemployment, youth male
20
30
40
Unemployment, youth female
50
And, aspirations are also unmet in the political life:
Women are heavily underrepresented in politics
5
Percentage of Women in Legislatures
(Lower or Single Houses)
Female unemployment is higher among the better
educated
6
Female Unemployment by Level of Education
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
MAR ('05)
Unemployment with primary education
WBG ('08)
LBN ('07)
Unemployment with secondary education
DZA ('04)
Unemployment with tertiary education
Public sector employment is a dominant source of
employment, especially for women
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Public sector employment
100%
(share of total employment)
90%
84%
82%
87%
80%
78%
80%
76%
70%
63%
58%
58%
60%
50%
43%
45%
44%
40%
37%
40%
34%
32%
27%
30%
24%
26%
20%
20%
29%
19%
11%
10%
8%
0%
Morocco
Djibouti
Jordan
Iraq
Egypt
West Bank
Women
Yemen
Men
Qatar 1/ United Arab Bahrain 1/ Kuwait 1/
Emirates 1/
Oman 1/
In many countries, the public sector also pays better,
especially for women
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Public employees are offered higher pay, subsidies, pensions, and relatively
more generous working conditions than similarly qualified workers in the
private sector.
100%
Public Sector Wage Gap
Difference in average hourly earnings for salaried workers in the public
and private sectors
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
Males
40%
Females
30%
20%
10%
0%
West Bank & Gaza
Iraq
Egypt
Yemen
Employment opportunities in the private sector are
limited, especially for women
9
In MENA, both male and female-owned firms hire fewer women than world averages
Worldwide, female-owned firms hire more women than male owned firms (27% men and 36%
women)
% of female workers in total employment
60
40
48
42
36
33
27
25
39
29
38
22 25
34
30
19
20
0
World
average
East Asia
& Pacific
Male-owned firms
Source: World Bank Enterprise Survey Data
Europe &
Central
Asia
Latin
America &
Caribbean
Female-owned firms
Middle
East &
North
Africa
South Asia
World average
SubSaharan
Africa
Women-owned firms hire more women as professionals
and managers than male-owned firms–across all regions
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women as % of total in each
category
Women-owned firms hire more women as professionals
and managers than male owned firms
Women Managers
47
Women Professionals
50
46
44
41
40
30
34
28
27
22
22
20
31
30
27
22
20
15
10
12
23
14
20
13
7
10
10
12
0
EAP
ECA
LAC
MENA
SAS
SSA
Male-owned firms
Source: World Bank Enterprise survey Data
EAP
ECA
Female-owned firms
LAC
MENA
SAS
SSA
So, why is female labor force participation low?
…It is not about religion
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Female labor force participation
90.00
80.00
70.00
60.00
Average for Muslim
majority countries
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
Pakistan
Turkey
MENA
Malaysia
Rest of the
world
Indonesia
Bangladesh
So, why is female labor force participation low?
…It is not about being oil-rich versus oil-poor states
Female Labor Force Participation (% aged 15+),
2009
12
100
80
DJI
60
KWT*
40
QAT
MAR
JOR
20 LBN
WBG
TUN
SYR
EGY
UAE
SAU
ALG
OMN
YEM
BHR IRQ
0
0
20
40
60
80
Fuel exports (% of merchandise exports), 2009 or latest
Source: World Development Indicators, 2011; *includes non-nationals
100
It is partly about social norms…
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Disagrees that
"Men make better political leaders than women”
(Percentage of respondents)
Disagrees that “When jobs are scarce,
priority should be given to men over women”
(Percentage of respondents)
70%
70%
60%
60%
50%
MENA women
50%
40%
World women
40%
30%
MENA men
20%
World men
30%
20%
10%
10%
0%
0%
And partly about laws…
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Family codes may limit decision-making: head of
household laws, permission to work, selecting
matrimonial residence, unilateral divorce laws etc.
Low or no legal minimum Age of Marriage Laws for
girls may limit decision-making power within the
household, with respect to education, work.
Labor laws may limit opportunities: restrictions on
industry and hours worked; maternity leave and
childcare; legislation that discourages or does not
recognize part-time work.
And other factors…
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Educational segregation influences occupational
segregation (women’s fields of study geared towards
public sector employment and certain disciplines –
education, health)
Skills mismatches
Gender stereotypes of employers and misperceptions
about the private sector
Limited opportunities and skills for entrepreneurship
Limited access to networks and lack of labor market
information
The time for reform is now
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Women are more educated than ever before, have fewer children and are
looking for work
If all those in the
working age
population look for
work, the number of
jobs needed in MENA
will increase
exponentially—200
million jobs by 2050,
three-quarters of them
for women
Conclusions and The Way Forward (1)
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Priorities for reform are: job creation for all, and legal reform to improve
women’s agency.
Essential for governments to focus on reforms that support economic diversification,
private sector investment and growth, and boost the employability of the growing
class of educated young men and women future job creation must be led by the
private sector.
Reforms are needed to remove bottlenecks in terms of skills shortages and
mismatches, overregulation of labor markets and limited support for
entrepreneurship (access to finance and complex regulations).
Giving women the capacity to create their own businesses can boost innovation,
growth and employment. Women entrepreneurs face significant barriers in
accessing credit.
Conclusions and The Way Forward (2)
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Policies to encourage women to work, and increase their attractiveness
(employability) to employers (incentives to employers).
Legal reforms are urgently needed to give women freedom of mobility,
ensure their safety in the workplace, relax restrictive regulations on their
employment, encourage their entrepreneurship, and advance their
participation in the legal profession and politics.
Paucity of relevant data in MENA on women’s issues and evidence on the
effectiveness of policies to address them.