ATINER's Conference Paper Series SOC2012-0091 Women Employment and Job Choices in a Middle-Eastern Gulf Society: Case of the UAE (original) (raw)
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2017
This research paper identifies and explores the challenges and barriers that Arab women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) face in their careers. Primary data was collected via an interview process involving 12 Arab women who reside and work in senior decision making positions in the UAE. Taking into account an overview of the global and UAE-specific challenges faced by women in the workplace and considering the significant efforts of the UAE government to promote women in leadership, as reported in literature, the analysis revealed that women often navigated their career through a sub-text of deep rooted social and cultural values that manifested themselves as stereotypes both in and out of the workplace and that these stereotypes impacted their career trajectory. Main barriers highlighted include; unfavourable policies, work/family conflicts and lack of support and options for entrepreneurial activity. The recommendations at the end of the paper focus on the need for continued gove...
International Journal of Business and Management Invention, 2017
The purpose of this study is to explore and investigate the factors that mostly effect on career development of women in the United Arab Emirates. The level of job Satisfaction of employees is reflected in the working conduct of the woman's. The low level of job Satisfaction might be reflected by lessened steadiness, discipline, duty, and in addition lower power, vacillation, the absence of staff etc. The point of this paper is to decide the level of Satisfaction with chose variables through the investigation of employees' job Satisfaction. The elements of employee satisfaction were partitioned into three dimensions-requirements and advantages of work, status, and connections in the working environment and authoritative settings. The findings suggest specific factors as they pertain to both the nature of the jobs and the workplace. The result of job satisfaction shows the highly strong relationship between JS and the other main variables; satisfaction with an environment of work. In fundamental for the youthful responders are the essential elements of job satisfaction the career possibility and the standard of the job. For the more prepared pros, the path for the relationship between employees and organization is ending up being less fundamental. Subsequently, the objective of the investigation was to confirm the authenticity of conclusions hypothesis on employees working in UAE. The study is a quantitative study, the researcher used quantitative research tool to explore the factors which have the most correlated with the career development of women and job Satisfaction in UAE. A simple random sample of 470 women was used.
Debunking Myths Surrounding Women's Careers in the Arab Region: A Critical Reflexive Approach
In this chapter, and stemming from our position as academic researchers and as women living and working in the Arab Region, we engage in a critical reflexive exercise that echoes our feminist standpoint. We aim to tackle and debunk some of the assumptions that often underpin research on women’s careers in our region. Such assumptions may find strong support in a Western context, but they do not necessarily hold in a different socio-cultural and political context. We therefore highlight foundational points of departure often assumed to be relevant for women pursuing careers generally, and we provide evidence to suggest that many of these points are not necessarily ‘true’ for women working in many countries of the Arab world. By so doing, we hope to raise awareness about women’s real lived experiences and ongoing employment- and career-related struggles. We believe that gaining awareness of these realities is an important first step towards generating meaningful knowledge and fostering transformation in regard to women’s employment- and career-related realities in the region.
Saudi women's work challenges and barriers to career advancement Article information
Career Development International , 2017
Few studies have explored the work challenges and career barriers faced by women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Drawing on Institutional Theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of employed Saudi women through in-depth interviews. The paper employs a phenomenological qualitative approach drawing on 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Saudi women. Findings – The findings reveal a significant number of prominent societal and organizational structural and attitudinal barriers to the advancement of Saudi women in paid employment. Among others, these barriers include a lack of mobility; the salience of gender stereotypes; gender discrimination in the workplace; limited opportunities for growth, development, and career advancement; excessive workload caused by a lack of family-work balance; and gender-based challenges related to dealing with pregnancy. Despite the contributions of this study, it also has limitations, particularly the convenience sampling approach and the focus on the KSA. The small sample size means that the findings cannot be generalized to all women employed in Saudi Arabia and should be generalized within Saudi Arabia and other Arab societies only with caution. The paper contributes to the understanding of work challenges and barriers of Saudi women in the workforce. It provides fresh insights to the issues surrounding women in Saudi Arabia and the need to address them in order to provide support for their career advancement. Keywords: Gender, Qualitative research, Career development, Saudi women, Work experiences.
Demographic Characteristics of the Female Emirati Workforce in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 24, no 3 (2021) 240-252 © 2021 Geo Publishing, Toronto Canada, 2021
Women are seen traditionally in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as fundamental for safeguarding the family and social structure of the country as well as preserving the cultural and religious heritage of the nation. This role, however, has changed in the aftermath of the rapid development occasioned by the discovery of oil and establishment of the country in 1971. Women are now at the forefront of several socioeconomic endeavours in various sectors of the country, thereby contributing to national development. The study aims to survey the characteristics of the Emirati female workforce in Dubai and compare it with corresponding national statistics. The aim is to assist policy makers with identifying priority areas for improvement as well as unearthing the challenges faced by working women in the country. Qualitative surveys were conducted based on a structured questionnaire distributed to 257 working women in Dubai City. Results obtained indicate that the majority of women working in Dubai are young and married. Additionally, the bulk of the respondents possess a bachelor's degree and higher degrees, thereby earning a decent monthly income. The childcare and transportation options employed by working women revealed the prevailing cultural norms, with the majority utilizing the help of family members and personal/family vehicles, resp. All these findings are in tune with nationwide standards; however, the majority of the respondents in the current study are employed in the governmental sector earn much higher salaries. The overall findings of the study would be useful for policy makers to formulate strategies for enhancing the female workforce in Dubai and the UAE at large. It is also useful for private and public organizations for addressing the challenges faced by the female workforce in the country thereby providing a better work-life balance for their employees.
The Status of Working Women in the Middle East
International Journal of Advances in Computer Science and Technology, 2018
The paper aims to find where we can achieve gender equivalence which is very important for workplaces not only because it is 'fair' and 'the right thing to do,' it is also imperative to the bottom line of a business and the productivity of our region. Women and men come into the workplace with equivalent levels of ambition. Besides, today more than ever, women are achieving their professional targets and delivering effective assistance to the accomplishments of individual businesses and the entire economy as well. They are embracing their careers sincerely and faithfully, as can be considered from the high levels of engagement that these women feel towards their jobs. Moreover, to get benefits of equality in the workplace with access to the entire talent gathering, that because women are gradually become educated as men. In this study, we found that "Get Your Facts Straight: Women in the Middle East Workplace" article has a proper research methodology as it must be in any academic study. This research investigates the current status of working women in the Middle East region, the Bayt.com Status of Working Women in the Middle East survey December 2014 has shown that 60% of women in the Middle East find that not easy to get appropriate job opportunities, whereas 51% of them believe that recruitment and selection opportunities have been processed, regardless of gender.