Gender Equality in Arabia

Gender Equality in the Gulf Problem Description Historically, there has been a marked dearth of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the countries compromising the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. There are a number of reasons responsible for this situation. Firstly, these countries are all predominantly Muslim. Traditional gender roles (and stereotypes) largely exist in Islam and in countries which adhere to this faith as their national religion.

Women are supposed to remain covered up in their raiment and relegated to domestic roles. The problem is that women account for approximately 50 percent of the population in the GCC countries, yet only constitute approximately 25 percent of the labor force in those countries (World Bank). Therefore, these countries are disadvantageously affected in certain aspects of economics and society because of the lack of female contributions in both of these areas.

Literature Support Existent literature proves the fact that there historically has been a lack of female participation—as well as a lack of gender equality and women’s empowerment—in the GCC countries. Traditionally, this part of the world was characterized by “a patriarchal ethos and conservative religious social and cultural norms that underline the rights and privileges of men vis-à-vis women while limiting women’s rights” (European Parliament 17).

Nonetheless, there are a host of changes which have taken place in these countries, and which will continue to take place to fortify the rights of women in the hopes of achieving gender equality in this region. Perhaps the most salient of these is the Arab Spring and all of the internal political dissent and strife that has materialized in this part of the world fairly recently (European Parliament 14).

These changes simply indicate that progress has been made and will continue to be made for gender equality in this part of the world. Solution Description The author of this document proposes to analyze the effect of active labor market policies that prioritize women in the different regions of the GCC.

The proposed research will analyze these policies in conjunction with those stemming from Non Governmental Organizations, such as the United Nations, which recently implemented a United Arab Emirates Liasion Office for the Gulf Cooperation Council dedicated to empowering women in this regard (UN Women). The efforts of these organizations will be examined in conjunction with those spawned from “active labor market policies (ALMP) that increase the probability of female first-time job-seekers to find jobs” (World Bank).

The researcher will attempt to ascertain if there are any positive effects for gender equality and women’s rights produced by these interventions in terms of their social and economic ramifications. Change Model The change model for this intervention is to gather both qualitative and quantitative evidence that can inform whether or not the aforementioned policies or programs are generating any sort of beneficial economic and social changes for women in this part of the world.

Of particular importance in this regard is if there is any correlation between the aforementioned policies and the political involvement of women in the GCC. There are some progressive movements taking place in this regard, in Saudia Arabia in particular in which gender quotas have been implemented “as a means to attract financial assistance,” (Alhashmi).

The author of this document will attempt to gather statistical information denoting differences in finance (in terms of money) and female participation of women in social spheres outside of domestic work to measure if these type of policies produce any beneficial impact for women and the countries in which they live. Implementation Plan The implementation plan of the proposed research will be based on the various measures enacted in the various countries in the GCC.

For example, this past spring there was a workshop in Oman conducted on behalf of the United Nations and Oman’s Ministry of Social Development for “Capacity building for employees working at the Department of Women’s Affairs and Family Development Sections to be able to analyze the social and legal cases related to women and provide need-based programmes” (UNFPA).

Therefore, the researcher would analyze the data from this event (how many people attended, how many of them were women, etc.), discuss its key takeaways, and formulate information about what actions preceded from it. This same sort of quantitative evidence would be taken from the programs resulting from this workshop to quantify and qualify the effect of this sort of action in Oman.

The researcher will obtain much of this data from the Liaison Office in Abu Dhabi, which serves as a central coordination point for monitoring the measures implemented and their progress for this gender equality and women’s empowerment in the region. In Kuwait, for example, the researcher would study the effects of the “Empower Kuwaiti Women in Politics” missive in which representatives from the country traveled to Washington D.C. to learn measures.