Referente biológico

The role of females in the workforce expanded in recent years in most countries (Powell 1999); however, gender inequalities continue to generally subordinate, marginalise, or undermine females in the labour force. Professional women advance more slowly, are less likely to reach senior levels, and earn less than males (Konrad et al. 2000; Reitman & Schneer 2000; Valian 1998). According to Mott (1998, p.26) ‘… women of all ages remain under-represented in skilled career fields due to misconceptions regarding gender-specific abilities and preferences, and under- valuation of women’s skills’. There is a significant variation in wage differentials between countries. For example, women in US faculties earn from 88 per cent of male incomes at professor ranking, to 93 per cent at associate professor, whilst a Uruguayan study found that professional women earn only 52 per cent of the salary of similarly qualified males (Okpara et al. 2005; Wirth 2000). Australia, however, is a leader in gender remuneration, with female graduates earning 96.8 per cent of the salaries of male graduates (Wirth 2000). This is presumed due to a centralised wage- fixing system, equality in education attainment, and large-scale female participation in the workforce. Thus, given differences in culture and social development, Australia may still stand as a model to UAE in work participation, and thus lead to an increase in the number of Emirati females in the workforce. Gender inequality is a theme pursued in this research. (see Section 6.1.4, Section 5.6.2, Section 7.2.4, Section 7.3.3, and Chapters 8 and 9 throughout).

Participation in the Labour Market: In Arab countries, however, traditionalism

and the recent emergence of women into public life dictate against the rapid integration of women into all levels of the labour market. A study by Abdalla (1996) of 5,974 women in Kuwait and 7,382 in Qatar found that the limited participation of women in the labour force is related to Arabian Gulf traditions and values, which date back to the pre-oil era. Metcalfe (2007) in Bahrain found limited support for female

employment, whilst Mostafa (2004) in UAE had a similar result and also commented that in the future, modernity could decrease patriarchal attitudes towards women in Arab society. Employment constraints facing Lebanese women are classified by Jamali et al. (2005) as, first, stereotypes within corporate culture, that is, organisational policies and practices that hinder women’s development; and secondly, the wider socio-cultural environment and behavioural expectations toward women. Mensch et al. (2003) confirmed this approach, finding Egyptian teenagers evinced strong traditional attitudes on gender roles; were patriarchal and were strongly supportive of family values. There are attempts to redress these imbalances. In Morocco and Kuwait, Islam is used in a progressive sense to promote equality (Moghadam 2004; Zuhur 2003; Wadud 1999). However, Al-Lamki (1999) challenged the persistent western view that Arab women are repressed. This is confirmed to a point with UNDP (2003) Human Development Reports of Arab women’s increased participation in the workforce in selected GCC countries; however, there is insufficient evidence across Arab nations to generalise on women’s participation.

Parenting Constraints: Determinants of Arab women’s participation in the

workplace are the age at which they marry, and the number of children (Al Qudsi 2006). Omani females marry at an average age of 16.9 years, and as many Omanis reach parenthood before they enter the labour market, this reflects the limited time the remainder of women work before leaving the workforce, or managing parenting with employment. Again, these statements cannot be generalised to all Arab countries, as the average age of marriage is unknown, and women are in fact pursuing their careers after marriage. Also, modernisation and globalisation have a deep impact on changing the perception of Arab societies in terms of family size and working women. Adam (2003) found that training opportunities and career progression are limited and very slow, factors that have impacted on UAE females’ contribution in the workforce. Further, for the majority of married women, the ultimate responsibility is to care for children rather than applying for work. Adam’s observation is based on economic prosperity in UAE, good social security and the fact that financial maintenance of the family is strictly a male domain. A further hindrance is a UAE policy issue, parental leave of a mere seventy days, which is insufficient for the majority of women and a great disincentive to leave young babies for full-time work. This suggests that parental responsibilities constrain women from contributing in the workforce.

Social Capital Theory: A further contention is that women’s lower earnings are

due to gender inequalities in social networks, and these differences could explain their differential achievements (Talmud & Izraeli 1999). In social capital structures (see Section 4.2.3), the weak ties theory links individuals on the basis of a narrow range of interests and common ties to others external to the immediate groups, and does not reinforce relationships. This suggests that women, who tend to have less weak ties, have less access to informal resources, which are so important (Burt 1992; Granovetter 1983; Ibarra 1993). Females are thus at a disadvantage because the network formed by females is characterised by strong ties among closer groups, while males display weaker ties to a larger network of people (Podolny & Baron 1997). However, Granovetter’s results are not shared by Coleman (1990), who placed greater stress on strong, close relationships and networks when building social capital. Coleman may hold out greater hope for females and their ability to use social capital in the labour market (Timberlake 2005). These results tend to point to strong and weak ties as a continuum rather than as opposites; as a balance of both tends to effect the greater benefit.

Gender Inequalities: The situation of gender inequalities in UAE, as a

traditionalist Arab country, is shared to a greater or lesser extent with other GCC countries; however there is little research on the issue (Whiteoak et al. 2006). UAE society is generally regarded as highly patriarchal, with clear-cut gender roles backed by fiat; for instance, a woman’s earnings must be less than a man’s for the same job (Baud & Mahgoub 2001). Whilst discrepancies are known to occur in practice, over one third of women in the workforce acknowledge such dissimilarities in earnings (Tanmia 2005; Baud & Mahgoub 2001). Impacts on earnings discrepancies are attributed to slower career development (Adam 2003), lack of promotion, and thus resignation (Baud & Mahgoub 2001).

Management Role: Women have an insignificant presence in senior

management ranks in most countries (Wirth 2000), although this is slowly being addressed; in New Zealand the proportion of women as senior managers rose from 19 per cent to 27 per cent; in Slovakia, from 23 per cent to 30 per cent. Other countries, such as Spain and the United Kingdom have no change over the period, whilst there has been a decline in women’s proportions in senior management ranks in the Czech Republic, Belgium, Greece and Poland (ibid.). Talmud and Izraeli (1999) argue that

women are more likely to be in low-paid jobs or low-opportunity career paths. However, culture differences in the perception of power and authority could also be an important element explaining female exclusion from management. Eagly and Johannessen-Schmidt (Timberlake 2001) state that, due to men having held management positions for a long time, they tended to define the style to which individuals have become accustomed. Wirth (2000) draws further attention to the fact that increased time and work pressures have a negative impact, which discourages females from taking more responsibilities.

As a corollary to these observations, Al-Lamky (2007) argues that the low proportion of women in Arab senior management is a matter of motivation, although Mostafa (2004) opts for the prevailing assumption that in UAE males are perceived as the primary breadwinners. The matter rests that stereotyping is an issue for professional working women, particular for those in high positions (Al-Lamki 1999; Baud & Mahgoub 2001). This may only be addressed through introduction of an affirmative action policy and program implementation, modernisation and the effects of the female surge through tertiary institutions.

Summary: Cultural attitudes, stereotypes of the status and role of women are the

main concerns in the Arab Islamic society (Al-Lamki 1999). Whilst conditions improve in areas such as education, health and employment, women in UAE continue to face many challenges regarding equality; not least, discriminatory legislation. As noted above, gender inequality is examined as a deciding factor for Emirati employees.