UAE: Women marginal in private sector

Most private employers lack a strategy to recruit Emirati women, but half plan to hire them in the coming year, a survey indicates.

The survey by the research company YouGov Siraj showed a willingness to add Emirati women to the workforce, but 60 per cent of businesses had not developed a strategy to employ more of them.

Only 13 per cent of private sector employees are Emirati women, the study found.

The study was commissioned by Tawteen, an initiative of the Emirates Foundation that promotes private sector employment for Emiratis. Emiratis of both sexes typically gravitate toward the public sector. Overall, Emiratis make up about 10 per cent of the private sector workforce.

But the study, preliminary details of which were provided to The National, shows that many Emirati women want to enter the workforce. A majority of women surveyed said it was better for families if mothers worked outside the home.

Asked to choose which of two statements they agreed with, 70 per cent picked “it is a mother’s responsibility to work so that she can be a role model for her children”. Eighteen per cent agreed that staying at home with children was best, to “see to their proper upbringing”.

“The survey may show that 70 per cent of women may say they want to work, even if they are mothers, but this still appears to be more an indication of attitudes than behaviour,” said Hussain Alothman, a professor of sociology at the University of Sharjah. “Because when you look at behaviour, it’s still a bit early in the game to say that women are beginning to readily participate in the workforce as they have done in education.” The majority of students in UAE postsecondary schools are women.

Prof Alothman said unlike women in other Arab countries, the issue of staying home and raising children was not the decisive factor in keeping Emirati women from taking jobs. “The issue is more about how the men perceive women being employed. Most local men do not want their wives to go outside the home to work.”

In the YouGov study, researchers surveyed and held focus-group discussions with women from Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Subjects included women who were working, first-time job seekers and some who left work but wanted to return. Influential male figures, including fathers, brothers and husbands, also participated. The researchers also interviewed 51 employers.

Two major reasons for employers to hire Emirati women, the researchers found, were to “add prestige” to their organisations (45 per cent) and to promote “cultural know-how and social connections” (41 per cent).

Eighty-four per cent of the companies surveyed said they had introduced development and training opportunities for Emirati women. Sixty-three per cent offered flexible working hours and about half extended maternity leave. But the researchers concluded that private sector employers have not found the right formula.

Employers “need to persuade Emiratis that the private sector is a good choice by introducing family-friendly and culturally sensitive measures”, said Suzan Sandouka, the programme director of Tawteen.

Tawteen’s objective is to “address a number of existing of misconceptions about the private sector for Emiratis and to alleviate their anxieties identified in this research, such as lack of job security and stability, lack of prestige and lack of flexibility”.

Mohanned Tabishet, an anthropologist at UAE University, said shifting women away from the public sector would be difficult because of the perceived advantages of working for the state.

“In practical terms, the state has been more beneficial than the private sector. It pays more benefits and offers more stability,” Prof Tabishet said. “With the private sector you lack many of these benefits, like the housing stipends.

“Women look to the state as a secure form of employment. It’s a logical extension of their social surroundings.”

By Hugh Naylor, The National