The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Qatar boosted GCC’s female labour market by five percentage points during the last decade.
In a report titled “Economic prospects and policy challenges for the GCC countries”, the IMF said that Qatar implemented reforms to incentivize women’s participation in the labour market.
In recent years, Qatar amended several new laws to impose gender equality in the market, including training, job advancement, raise in pay and new mechanisms to ensure labours rights.
Other GCC countries passed new laws to combat gender inequality and gender-based discrimination in labour in the past three years. The GCC countries also prohibited dismissing women during pregnancy and maternity and equalized their retirement age.
However, the IMF said that female workers’ rights in Saudi and the UAE remains flawed. At least women participation is less than half of men’s, and they are in fewer managerial positions.
The percentage of GCC’s female adults’ credit cards increased from 17% in 2014 to 21% in 2017. And gender gap decreased from 14% to 11%.
Moreover, according to the IMF reports, healthcare and education played a role in decreasing the gender gap in the GCC region. While the mortality rate in 2000 hit 82 per 10000 female adults, only an average of 51 cases per 1000 was recorded in 2019. This rate is lower than men’s mortality rate, which is 73 per 1000.
Educational attainment has significantly improved in the last decade. The women survival rate to age 65 reached 89% in 2019, on average, higher than 86% for men. This is due mainly to the broad and significant improvement in the health services in the GCC and equal access to free-of-charge quality healthcare.
The report also shed light on the GCC’s education in primary education. In 2002, the female primary education’s percentage hit 51%, increasing to 84% in 2018. Moreover, the share of women who finished their undergraduate studies increased from 15% in 2001 to 28% in 2018.
“Despite the important advances for women in the GCC, there is scope for further reforms. Better access to finance and closer vocational guidance for women would help develop their entrepreneurial skills and enter the job market as employers. Increasing women participation in political decision-making would help enhance the design of gender-related policies,” the IMF noted.
“More initiatives to reduce the stigma of health issues, particularly with mental health, and increasing the number of female medical professionals are crucial for improving women’s health in the GCC. Full rights in terms of working hours, maternity leave and independence in asset management should be ensured across the GCC.”
Despite the skyrocketing development in the female labour market, international media, especially the Guardian and the Financial Times, have been pouring Qatar and other GCC countries with criticism, giving no acknowledgement to the countries’ developments speed.
“The changes are structural — and permanent — and will not end when the football World Cup is over,” said Qatar’s Minister of Health, Ali bin Samikh Al Marri, in a letter to the Financial Times.
“We are the first country in the region with an International Labour Organization office, whose mandate will continue beyond 2022. Working with the ILO, we introduced laws in line with international best practices. The next step has been to ensure that changes are fully implemented by shifting the deeply ingrained cultural attitudes of employers.”
The Minister said that Qatar applied the concept of minimum wage and that it is now monitored through electronic payments. Moreover, he added that the government is taking measures to stop those who violate the laws. “A total of 338 businesses were suspended for not respecting working hours this summer during the hottest months,” he added.
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