Gender and Development in the Middle East

1
Gender and Development in theMiddle East North
AfricaWomen in the Public Sphere

• Nadereh Chamlou
• Senior Advisor, MENA
• Cairo. June 10, 2004

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Introduction

• Purpose of the book Advance the gender debate by
  analyzing impact of gender inequality on the
  growth and development of MENA countries.
• Scope of the analysis Focus on issues of female
  labor force participation as an important
  component of gender equality and womens
  empowerment.
• Definition of gender equality Equality under the
  law, equality of access to opportunity, and
  equality of voice.

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Main Messages

• MNA countries invested significantly in womens
  education health? but still low female labor
  force participation.
• Women face inequality in the public sphere and
  have a low FLFP which has high costs.
• Gender issues are ultimately about increasing the
  productivity and competitiveness of economies of
  te region and must be central to the overall
  policy reform.

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Three Pervasive Myths

• It is lack of education that is keeping the MNA
  woman behind.
• More women in the labor force will increase
  unemployment and take away jobs from men.
• In MNA culture, women do not need or want to work
  outside the home.

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The MENA woman is beginning to be as educated as
the MENA Man The MENA Region has invested
significantly in social sectors and achieved
impressive results
6
The MENA woman is as educated as her peers in
other parts of the worldProgress in social
indicators -- Shortfall in empowerment indicators
7
Empirical evidence does not support the claim
that womens increased labor force participation
increases unemployment
8
MENAs low female labor force participation has a
high cost to society and families.High cost of
living provides no longer a choice for women but
to work outside the home work is increasingly a
necessity for the family to survive

• The highest dependency ratio in the world.
• Ratio of 21, compared with East Asia, where it
  is nearly 11.

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MENA FLFP accelerated over 1980-2000, reaching
5 in the 1990s, but still remains lowest among
all regions
10
MENA is utilizing only a fraction of its
potential more needs to be done to increase the
demand side for womens FLFP
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Female unemployment is highest among the more
educated and women leave the labor force when
married and with children.
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Lower FLFP has high social and economic costs
that can no longer be ignored

• Lower family income
• Egypt 25, Jordan 20, Morocco 17
• Womens work is increasingly the ticket between
  poverty and middle class.
• It is also an important source of income for
  expenditures on better education and health of
  next generation.
• Lower per capita GDP growth
• For a subset of countries, GDP could have been
  2.6 instead of 1.9 with greater female
  participation in labor force.
• Translates into billions of dollars of lost
  opportunity for the region.

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Factors impacting womens labor force
participation in MENA

• Historical Growth Policies Of The Past
• The oil legacy
• Public investment policies did not increase
  significantly the demand for womens labor beyond
  traditional education and health sectors
• Economic Low Growth affects both men and women
• High unemployment pushes women more out than men
• A host of micro-inequities in labor market
  laws/regulation (plus spotty enforcement) create
  uneven playing for women
• Social The Gender Paradigm
• Centrality of the family defining roles in
  traditional ways
• Male breadwinner model influencing spirit and
  implementation of laws
• Code of modesty conditionality of access to
  public sphere ? importance of physical and
  reputational safety
• Inequality in the private sphere
  intra-household decision relations affect access
  to public sphere

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What needs to be done next steps

• Advocate that gender equality is not just for the
  sake of women but as central to promoting growth,
  employment, social security and family welfare.
• Integrate gender agenda into the New Development
  Model for the region (as advocated by other MNA
  reports). Key actions to center on
• Consistency between constitutional rights and
  ordinary legislation.
• Regulation to create a level playing field for
  men and women in the workplace.
• Education enhancement to create marketable
  skills.
• Investments in infrastructure to support womens
  work and family duties.