Advancing Women and the Economy in the Middle East

Oct. 30, 2009 — Studies in the Middle East and North Africa predict that increasing women’s participation in the labor force could grow household income by as much as 25 percent in the region.

Today, there are 61 million women of working age in the region, but only 17 million are employed. And, women make up less than one-quarter of the non-agricultural workforce in many countries including Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.

There are many reasons for the disparity, including lagging educational levels for women in some nations and the lack of women’s access to credit, which makes it difficult for them to start their own businesses. In some countries such as Jordan, women have parity in education but still are not fully represented in the formal economy. There, the disparity can in part be attributed to conservative attitudes about women and work.

“It’s a cultural problem,” says the Honorable Zeinab Radwan, member of the Egyptian parliament and a leader with the country’s National Council for Women. She notes that women make up only 15 percent of entrepreneurs within her country, and that there is little support for women who do venture into owning their own businesses.

As widespread and uncontroversial as the case for women’s economic empowerment has become, the barriers to women’s economic participation are not limited to the Middle East region.

Worldwide women own only one percent of the world’s wealth, have only a 10 percent share in global income, and occupy just 14 percent of leadership positions in the private and public sector. And, while women produce half of the world’s food, they own a mere one percent of its land.

Group work is part of the participatory process in which GWIM participants learn from each other.

From October 11 to November 5, CEDPA is holding its first Global Women in Management program in Cairo, Egypt to give women from the Middle East and North Africa the knowledge and skills to tackle economic barriers within their communities.

The program, held October 11 to November 5, includes 23 mid-career women from Egypt, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Palestine who are examining and adapting best practices that advance women's economic opportunity and meet the needs of their own communities and countries.

Participants are also meeting with experts like Parliamentarian Zeinab Radwan and her colleagues at the National Council for Women about efforts to increase women's entrepreneurship and workforce development.

This is CEDPA’s 50th Global Women in Management program. Graduates of the Egypt training will join CEDPA's alumni network of more than 5,200 leaders who are working to improve communities in over 150 countries worldwide.

CEDPA has worked in Egypt since 1980. Our programs have advanced women’s leadership, increased girls’ access to education, and improved family health, especially reproductive and maternal health.

Since 2005, the Global Women in Management program has been supported by the ExxonMobil Foundation's Women's Economic Opportunity Initiative, a global effort that helps women in developing countries fulfill their economic potential and serve as drivers of economic and social change. The Foundation has sponsored more than 250 women leaders from over 35 countries to receive in-depth training from CEDPA since the partnership began.

Learn more about CEDPA’s training programs.

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