Unemployment among Women in the Arab World
Despite the increasing number of women joining the workforce each year in the Arab world, whether in skilled work or hard labor, they still face a harsh job market. As of 2010, the unemployment rate of women in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was 18%, compared to a worldwide rate of 6%. [1]The female employment rate in MENA is 17.5%, whereas the worldwide rate is approximately 50%. However, these rates have decreased by approximately 2% in a decade, with different improvement rates in each country.[2]
In addition to the preexisting patriarchal barriers against women employment in the Arab world, there are social, cultural and ideological obstacles. While the region as a whole is overcoming disparities affecting women's education, the employment situation is not rosy. Today, the number of unemployed women with a secondary level of education is higher than it was a decade ago. Each development comes with their own challenges. In Arab countries of large agricultural sector, such as Egypt, Syria, and Yemen, employment remains the highest for intensive-labor sectors rather than innovative jobs and entrepreneurship. But this is changing, in Morocco and Tunisia, for example, the export manufacturing sectors are creating labor opportunities for women.
For the better part of a decade, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the Arab world have been recommending developing a cross-border integration agreement to better employ human capital. With the anticipated free flow of investment between Arab countries, the labor force would expand and more women will be integrated as a result. Moreover, considering the patriarchal structure of the countries, integrating women into the workforce is expected to initiate social changes as well.[3]
With a 24% female employment rate, the Arab world ranks far below the rate in low- and middle-income countries. This rate is lower for women between ages of 15 and 65, approximately by 13%. However, female employment rate increased to 15.3% in 2012.[4] As the number of employed women increases in the region, both the economy and women’s labor rights benefit.
[1] OECD-MENA Women's Business Forum, 2013, "Gender Inequality and Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa," OECD.
[2] Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi and Valentine M. Moghadam, 2003, "Empowering Women, Developing Society: Female Education in the Middle East and North Africa," Population Reference Bureau.
[3] Roudi-Fahimi and Moghadam, 2003; Metcalfe, 2007.
[4] OECD-MENA Women's Business Forum, 2013.
Yarın Kıroğlu is a consultant for GGODR at The World Bank. His research interests include world politics, political demography, political economy of growth and development, economic and demographic implications of bilateral trade, econometrics, game theory, and computational analysis. He holds M.A. in Business Information Systems and M.A. in International Political Economy.
