The Gulf’s labour market must offer better conditions for working mothers if it hopes to encourage more women into the boardroom, speakers at the Arabian Business Women’s Forum said.
Issues such as inadequate maternity leave, a lack of childcare support and flexible working are shutting women out of the workplace, as many carry the burden of domestic duties, said Fatima Al Jaber.
”I think we need to create a more women-friendly environment. Women carry a lot of talent but they also have a huge amount of pressure from families and those needs need to be accommodated,” the COO of Al Jaber Group told more than 200 delegates at the Dubai event.
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”Some companies should perhaps introduce kindergarten and flexible working hours.”
Though anecdotal evidence points to an increasing number of women breaking through the glass ceiling, data shows the Gulf continues to lag the world when it comes to gender equality.
In a global ranking by the World Economic Forum, no Middle East country ranked in the top 100 of the 135 nations covered.
Across the Gulf, the UAE was the highest-ranked country at No.103, followed by Kuwait (105), Bahrain (110), Qatar (111), Oman (127) and Saudi Arabia (131).
Claire Fenner, co-founder of Dubai-based female entrepreneur group Heels & Deals, said more needed to be done to support working women with families in the UAE.
“The government does need to do more to allow women, both Emirati and expatriate, to rise to the top by creating a more supportive environment for working women,” she said.
“The current maternity law only gives a woman 45 days paid maternity leave and there is no provision for unpaid maternity leave. This falls significantly below the maternity packages offered in other countries and does not provide working women having babies with enough options to achieve a career and have a family at that stage of motherhood.”
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