Introduction
In recent years, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has taken a considerable change in terms of women's employment. However, while admirable changes are taken to bridge the gender wage gap, women in the labor sector remain to be at a disadvantage. It was observed that a majority of the MENA countries has sensibly capitalized in providing better education to women, yet most of these states have not tapped fully into the women’s labor force for improved economic growth. This demonstrates the gender-based discrimination that generally hinders women in the MENA region to impart their potential in the labor sector. For instance, women are culturally at a disadvantage when seeking employment, and the limited opportunity in the labor sector puts them at a greater difficulty because they have to contend for jobs on an unequal footing. Despite the effort to transform the structure of the labor sector in the MENA region, women continue to experience occupational discrimination. This paper aims to discuss the gender-based discrimination common in the MENA labor markets.
A. Occupational Segregation
Occupational disparities between men and women are demonstrated by the existence of key differences arising from employment structure. It was found that a greater number of women than men are employed in the public sector, and this was the case in Algeria, Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait (Said, 109). Nevertheless, research revealed the dualistic tendencies of Arab countries, which means that the labor market is segmented. The segmentation of the Arab labor market is characterized by the “failure to treat its participants equally, hence resulting in differentiation in opportunities, rewards, and working conditions among objectively comparable workers” (Said, 109). The occupational segregation is also manifested with the continuous existence of labor entry barriers, such as the limited number of employees hired in specific job placement.
Further, occupational segregation means that workers are subjected to culturally impose limitations. For example, it was reported that women among the Gulf Cooperation Council members are generally employed in the fields of education, health, and social planning. This means that the working women in these countries have to deal with social and cultural factors that impose restrictions about the economic activities and careers that are considered fitting for women (Said, 109). A study in Morocco showed that government policies that promote educational programs, where the learners are prepared to take on government employment resulted in limited career choices as well as serving as a “barrier to the mobility of skilled labor” (Said, 117).
B. Pay Disparities
Another type of gender-based discrimination is the wage disparity, where women are reported to receive lower wages in the Arab countries. For example, research revealed that professional women in Egypt earned approximately 75% and 78% of median male wages in the year 2000 and 2004 respectively (El-Hamidi & Said, n.p). Further, the gender pay disparity in the Arab region is caused by the educational and literacy restrictions on women. According to the human capital theory predictions, the higher wages of men is justified due to higher levels of education, experience; this is in addition to cases where there is a higher regional demand for men’s labor (El-Hamidi & Said, n.p).
C. Over Staffing in the Public Sector
An example of over staffing in the public sector is demonstrated in the case of the Egyptian labor market where government policies on public employment and wages have had a detrimental impact (Said, 116). It was pointed out that the progression of non-tradable occupation was basically credited with the speedy development of employment in both the government and public enterprises, and this was accompanied by the decrease in the tradable sector employment, especially so in the agricultural sector. Consequently, the unemployment cases in Arab countries indicated that those who tend to have difficulty in gaining employment are the first time job-seekers. A study showed that high unemployment is common among the female youths in Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt; and this is also true among workers with higher levels of education (Said, 118).
D. Disparities in Time Allocation
Gender-based discrimination is also apparent in the Arab countries because of the tradition of male-domination and subordination of women. While there are remarkable programs and policies that aimed to eradicate poverty and inequality through education, a large disparity remains to exist because of other factors that hinder women from having an equal participation and opportunity in the labor sector.
One of the sources of gender-based discrimination in Arab countries can be traced to time allocation between work and household duties. Women are generally expected to spend more time in household works despite having an outside work of their own. This culturally imposed arrangement is detrimental to women in terms of their position in the labor market. That is, men can focus on what is considered as productive activities, while women have to divide their time in their outside career and household duties.
Causes of Employment Discrimination
One of the causes of employment discrimination is the overcrowding of workers in just a few non-governmental positions. The oversupply of workers leads to the propensity of employers to decrease wages. A study of about gender wage disparity which was conducted between 1988 and 1998 showed that women are generally aligned to a lesser paying jobs (El-Hamidi & Said, n.p). Further, scholars pointed out that the continuing gender gap and women discrimination in the labor sector can be attributed to differences in productivity. However, there are also instances when there is a wage disparity despite having a relatively comparable qualification and nature of the job. Another cause of employment discrimination is the occupational segregation which was discussed above. In addition to that, the impact of the patriarchal domination in most Arab countries leads to the increased disregard about the women’s predicament in their employment.
Remedies of Employment Discrimination
In the past decades, there were many government policies and programs that cater to the education and skills development of women in Arab countries. However, it was noted that despite the fact that women in Arab states spent more years in education, men receive higher pay because the later have more years in terms of experience. Based on this fact, a strategy to achieve employment equality is the implementation of strategies that increase women's participation in the labor market. While raising their educational achievements is important, there are indicators that it will not achieve the desired result. In fact, it is likely to cause problems because it might result to an excessive supply of educated women (El-Hamidi & Said, n.p). A factor that is worth considering is the burden of social reproduction that proved to career interruption among women.
In order to resolve the difficulty of social reproduction on women, an emphasis should be made towards the development of family policies that highlight “parental leave schemes, reduced working hours and flexible working and distance working arrangements” (El Hamidi & Said, n.p). It was proven that these forms of policies are instrumental in the elimination of the hindrances to a worker’s decision to make her own free choices. Moreover, there is also a need to come up with policies that eliminate barriers and other factors that emphasize gender as a key qualification, other than skills and ability.
For white collar occupations where it was found that pay discrimination remains to be an enormous issue, there is a need for Arab governments to develop and implement laws that prohibit such kind of inequality. Based on different research, it was found that the implementation of policies that sets the law on employment is helpful in resolving the problems of gender-wage inequality. The existences of legislative interventions were recognized to significantly help in the prevention of “discrimination in job titles, job ranks and pay scales according to gender at labor market entry points” (El Hamidi & Said, n.p).
Conclusion
There is a considerable change in terms of women’s employment in the MENA region; it is an admirable transformation because women in this region have suffered long from discrimination and inequality, both in the home and the workplace. Nevertheless, while there are admirable changes in recent years, women in the MENA region remain to be discriminated upon. They remain to receive lower wages, and suffer from the inability to explore their capabilities in different fields. Consequently, the government must come up with intervention measures to help women achieve equality in terms of pay and employment opportunities.
Works Cited
El-Hamidi, Fatma, and Mona Said. "Gender-Based Wage and Occupational Inequality in the New Millenium in Egypt." Web.
Said, Mona. "Public Sector Employment and Labor Markets in Arab Countries: Recent Developments and Policy Implications." Labor and Human Capital in the Middle East. N.p., n.d. Print.
Said, Mona. "Wages and Inequality in the Egyptian Labor Market in an Era of Financial Crisis and Revolution." Economic Research Forum (2015): n. pag. Web.
