Arab businesswomen 'still face glass ceiling'

Despite a push from political leaders to close the gender gap, Arab women face a slew of barriers when chasing high-flying jobs in politics and business, experts have said.

Speakers at the first Arab Women's Leadership Forum, held in Dubai, said the glass ceiling is still very much in evidence for local women, and legislation is needed to force a social shift.

Speaking on the sidelines of the two-day event, Dr Susan Watson, of Napier University Business School told Arabian Business: “Just stating you are behind progression [of women] is not enough; there needs to be supportive legislation. There are cultural issues, working hours and family-friendly policies that are needed to improve the situation."

Dr Aysa Al-Lamki, the Omani Cultural Attache in Washington, told the primarily female audience that Arab women must mesh their culture with a push towards equal rights.

"A new and fresh interpretation of religion is needed," she said, adding that women should fight for a role in the workplace. "Emphasis the business case: why do we need more women in business? We need men on our side to turn this around."

The AWLF, opened by Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is tasked with promoting gender policy change, and involving women in the development of the UAE. The forum focused on the issues hindering the advancement of Arab women.

Attendee Shaikha Yousef Hassan Al Gufairi, a member of Qatar's centre Municipal Council, said it was an inconvenient truth that social change had not kept pace with government policy.

Gufairi, one of only two female elected members of the Council, claimed both women and men shy away from backing females to top-level political roles.

“No women are winning in the elections; we’ve seen this across the region,” she said. “Even women don’t vote for women, even when there is political encouragement for progress.”

Speaker Rohini Pande mooted the possibility of creating “motivational quotas”, ringfencing a specific number of political roles for women.

Pande, a professor of public policy at Harvard University, told delegates that more than 100 countries had adopted similar affirmative action systems to lure women into top-level roles.

“The point of motivational quotas is to educate voters.” Pande said. “Voters need to see women in power.”

Women hold roughly 9.7 percent of political roles in Arab countries.

However, Dr Watson said local governments are unlikely to enforce equal opportunities laws, such as those seen in the US and Europe, because of the “cultural context” of establishing quota laws.

“It would be a very big political decision because of the cultural role of women, particularly within the legal system here,” she said, adding that equality policies can stamp out “very blatant discrimination” but are not a panacea for gender inequalities.