WUNRN
Women Without Borders
25. July 2008
Bridging the Gap - Women´s Empowerment in the Middle East
Research findings of our survey in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates
Our “Bridging the Gap” survey included questionnaires of a
total of 7.474 male and female students from leading Universities in Jordan,
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as graduates and expert
interviews and parental perspectives to provide unique data from the region.
Especially this extensive outreach to Saudi Arabia is remarkable as this is
still almost unknown territory for social scientists.
The overall results show an impressive common denominator: the female and male
voices in the study are cosmopolitan, confident and hugely optimistic about
gender equity. They are ambitious and look forward to an interesting work life
and raising smaller families. Family is paramount, religion is treasured and
tradition is respected though not perpetuated by all.
Yet further analysis reveals potential dark clouds. Women have much fewer job
preparedness skills than their male colleagues, making their struggle both
ideologically and pragmatically harder than for men to achieve employment.
Women’s access to the job market is a thorny issue, but still one of the
biggest and most pressing challenges confronting Saudi Arabia’s segregated
society. 78% of the female Saudi students consider a successful career as part
of their life plan – in the context of a society operating on rigid perceptions
and allocation of roles – this is a small revolution. The high unemployment is,
however, a serious problem and inauspicious, not only regarding the
participation of women, it is a risk factor in respect to the country’s inner
stability.
Only 54% of the Saudi respondents expect to find a job after graduation.
Within only a few decades, the Emirates have made the leap from living in
desert tents to the glistening glass skyscrapers of their new metropolises.
Seventy percent of the total respondents – both men and women – no longer link
power with gender-based privilege, but rather with education. Do the educated
youth find that much has already been achieved? Do men think “enough is
enough”? Just above 50% of women find unrestrainedly, that “more women should
strive for leadership.” Oppositely, half as many men, 25%, encourage this.
Careers present a high degree of attractiveness, and the dream of a
super-career is gender neutral.
In Jordan young women expect a great deal of female leaders. About 40% of the
female respondents whole-heartedly believed that more women should strive for
leadership, only 25% of their male counterparts agreed.
The project also provides a practical solution to the known shortfall between
the number of highly educated women and the low number of engaged women in
public life by creating a tailored “This is Me!” special fairs program
for personal and professional positioning in the careers market for young
female graduates in the Middle East as a direct application of the “Bridging
the Gap” research.
The aim was to coach the graduates into pro-active, articulate, critical
thinkers with a focus on pragmatic job seeking etiquette and exploring and
generating opportunities for the market. Arab women are on the move – in a top
down and bottom up revolution. The dramatic boom in women’s education will
certainly change the face of the Middle East contributing to the advancement of
a professional middle class much needed in the region.
This 3year research project was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
and led by Dr. Edit Schlaffer in cooperation with an international team.
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