Dwindling Gender Gap Sparks Entrepreneurial Spirit

February 23, 2005—Nadereh Chamlou believes women in the Middle East have an image problem - not with themselves but in how they're viewed by the rest of the world.

Chamlou, the World Bank's lead coordinator on gender for the Middle East and North Africa region, says—contrary to popular belief—women in the region have been successful in bridging the gender gap in education and health.

"I think many are still captured by the image of women in the Middle East and North Africa as uneducated," she says. "Women in the Middle East have made tremendous progress."

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The region as a whole has spent significantly more than other regions in the world on health and education—so women are now living longer and the gender gap in education has closed dramatically.

But that has not translated into a big advance in the numbers of women in the workforce. The participation of women in the workforce in the MENA region is among the lowest in the world—making it one of the key gender challenges for the region.

Part of the problem, says Chamlou, is the high unemployment rate in the region.

 "With a 15% unemployment rate, there is a lot of pressure on youth and women to stay out of the workforce." 

While the economic need for women to work in some
countries in the region has meant casting aside the traditional image of women staying at home, traditional barriers still reign in other countries.

"For instance, in most parts of the world, the man is considered the breadwinner of the family. In the Middle East, it's written into the law," she says.

Because of this legal provision, very often employers think that they must hire men first, and then if anything is left, to hire a woman. It is not uncommon to see ads for high paying jobs explicitly
state that women need not apply.

Ultimately, Chamlou sees gender issues tied to competitiveness of economies and the use of the country's most precious resource—people.  If a country is using only half of its resources, there will be an economic cost.  

"Today, in many countries of the Middle East, the majority of university students are women. So, there's tremendous human capital potential within the female population."

The challenge then is to tie the overall reform agenda to the social changes needed to remove barriers to women in the workforce.

As a consequence, Chamlou says the World Bank is focusing in the region on women's economic rights, including access to public resources, access to wage employment and non-wage benefits, and access to create work as entrepreneurs, investors and producers.  This in turn will spur job creation in the economy at large.

"If women are being told unemployment is so high that the jobs need to kept for men since they are the breadwinners, can't women then create their own jobs? Can't they create not only their own jobs, but also jobs for others in the economy?" she asks.

The "basic building blocks" for women are already there in the region to help women create their own opportunities.

"Women in the MENA have the right to inheritance. Some people may say it's only half of a man's, but they have the right to inheritance. They have the right to enter into legal transactions in their own name. And, above all, they have the right to hold property, even land. They have the right to financial independence. Their financial resources are theirs and remain theirs."

All of these rights, combined with the increasing educational level of the MENA woman add up to the basic starting points for entrepreneurship—for women to start their own businesses to benefit the economies.

"So, what we want to do is to promote this very particular, often overlooked, aspect of women's rights," she says.

"We are trying to identify what those gender-specific barriers are and address them through our policy work—investment climate work, for example, so we can help women who are able and willing to strike out on their own."

Chamlou is optimistic about the future for women in the region, saying the biggest advocates for gender rights at present are, in fact, men.

"The fertility rate in MENA has declined remarkably in the last 20 years.  This means that today's MENA men and women are being raised in smaller families. They are being raised under more equal circumstances and have access to better education. They go on to study. A father may say men like discrimination, but he certainly doesn't want it for his daughter in whom he has invested a great deal," she says.

"Women, too, are more aware of their capabilities and the increasing need to contribute financially to the wellbeing of their families."