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Unlocking the potential of educated Arab women
For Arab women, hard-won progress in education has not earned them the economic progress they deserve. Although young women seek and succeed in tertiary education at higher rates than young men, they are far less likely to enter and remain in the job market. Understanding and tackling the barriers that hinder women from working would unlock Arab women’s potential and yield significant social and economic benefits to every Arab State.
Echoing the trend observed globally, women in the Arab world outnumber men in pursuing university degrees. The ratio of female to male tertiary enrollment in the region is 108 percent. This ratio is even more favorable to women in Qatar (676 percent) and Tunisia (159 percent).
Yet, three out of four Arab women remain outside of the labor force.
Young women entering the labor market are disadvantaged in comparison to their male peers. Of female youth actively seeking work, 43.9 percent are unemployed in the Middle East, twice the male youth unemployment rate at 22.9 percent.
And, when an economic crisis occurs, women are the most vulnerable workers. For example, in North Africa, female youth unemployment increased by 9.1 percentage points after the most recent economic recession, as compared to 3.1 percentage points for males.
When taking into account both the low female labor force participation rate along with the high unemployment, only 18 percent of working-age Arab women have jobs. At this rate, it would take 150 years to reach today’s world female labor force participation average.
Source: www.brookings.edu