Women at Work: Job Opportunities in the Middle East
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Women at work: Job opportunities in the Women at work: Job opportunities in the Middle East set double to with the Fourth Industrial Revolution Middle East set to double with the Fourth Industrial Revolution by McKinsey Authors: Rima Assi [email protected] Chiara Marcati [email protected] 2020 Copyright © McKinsey & Company Designed by Visual Media MEO www.mckinsey.com @McKinsey Women @McKinsey at work Job opportunities in the Middle East set to double with the Fourth Industrial Revolution Preface The notion that providing equal access to education, work, financing, and legal protection have positive economic and social implications is not a new one. The stakes, however, are growing. ‘Women at work: Job opportunities in the Middle East set to double with the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ is the result of a year-long research initiative that reveals insights on the biggest barriers and unlocks to female participation in professional and technical jobs in the Middle East. The research covers selected countries from the GCC and the Levant, home to around 78 million women, and shows a complex picture with striking regional variations.1,2 Our report builds on McKinsey’s global ‘future of work’ research to understand how women are likely to be affected by the Fourth Industrial Revolution the Middle East. The data shows that jobs are likely to more than double by 2030. The data also shows that women are not yet sufficiently integrated into high-productivity sectors in the Middle East, nor are they adequately equipped with the advanced technological skills required to take advantage of these opportunities. The situation however, is evolving in some of the countries studied. The purpose of this report is to take a deeper look into the specific elements that contribute to lack of access to professional and technical jobs, and double down on the actions that will enable this paradigm shift. We find that women’s labor force participation rates (LFPR) in the Middle East are the lowest in the world at 24.6%—at half of the global average, despite high rates of enrollment and education literacy levels. More interestingly, over the last decade, countries with high levels of inequality in professional and technical jobs— have experienced reverse gender gaps in education: female university graduates now outnumber men in some countries. Goal five of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focuses on advancing gender equality and many countries and organizations have made significant progress by implementing policies and creating environments that lead to greater parity. There is real momentum, yet challenges remain. There are indeed deeply rooted societal and mindset shifts required to unlock the opportunity of gender parity. This unlock is a critical one—and does have significant second and third order effects for the stability not only of the region, but of the global economy. Rima Assi Senior Partner 1 World development indicators, World Bank, 2018 figures, databank.worldbank.org 2 We have taken the definition of the Levant to include Egypt; accordingly, we explored the situation in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. Among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, we centered on Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE Women at work: Job opportunities in the Middle East set to double with the Fourth Industrial Revolution 1 In brief Advancing the role of women in society and the economy is a key driver for change in the Middle East. Increased female participation in professional and technical jobs can turbo-charge economic growth in a region that will be significantly impacted by the Fourth Industrial Revolution—making their participation all the more critical. The share of women in professional and technical jobs is set to more than double by 2030 through digitization, online platforms, and entrepreneurship. Capturing this opportunity would put women in the Middle East at parity with global peers. Women in the Middle East can go further and aim to achieve parity with the region’s men in professional and technical jobs. We identified four indicators that have relatively higher correlation with women’s participation in professional and technical jobs: (1) education; (2) financial inclusion; (3) digital inclusion; and (4) legal protection. This report looks at how these indicators affect women and their ability to actively participate in the labor force. Some interesting facts emerged from our research: — Levels of literacy and enrollment of women in primary and tertiary education is on par with men and female tend to outperform boys in school. However, women prefer tertiary fields of study such as arts and education and are not sufficiently integrated in STEM-related fields. — Digital inclusion is a critical catalyst for boosting female participation in professional and technical jobs within the region as technology begins to reshape the workplace, offering more job opportunities and greater flexibility for women who work. Increased digital inclusion would further support women’s active participation in the jobs of the future. — High inequalities persist, most notably in legal protection and financial inclusion with a significant number of women remaining unbanked. Introducing new legal frameworks is one important enabler for ending the gender-based inequalities prevalent in the Middle East region. Beyond these dimensions, we found that the key to empowering women in the Middle East is not only to equip them with access to jobs but also to ensure they have the right support, experience, and opportunities once they are working. Personal grit and a supportive environment play a critical role. We conducted a survey across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Egypt, to understand women’s journeys in the workplace. We found that: (1) women face the highest level of challenges—having few interactions with seniors, sub-par support from colleagues, and limited experiences with committed role models; (2) as women grow in tenure, they report higher levels of satisfaction than men; and (3) select policy changes could have significant positive implications on women’s overall experience in the workplace. Three types of interventions are necessary to bridge the gender gap. Stakeholders, including policy-makers and business leaders, have a responsibility to drive female participation in professional and technical jobs through: (1) tailored education and training to upskill and retrain women; (2) an enabling structural foundation with a support system, enhanced regulatory, and policy framework; and (3) creating an environment conducive to women’s growth. In addition to these interventions, the importance of self-empowerment and grit cannot be ignored and will need to be driven by women. 2 Women at work: Job opportunities in the Middle East set to double with the Fourth Industrial Revolution Women at work: Job opportunities in the Middle East set to double with the Fourth Industrial Revolution 3 Creating opportunities 01 for women in the future 4 Women at work: Job opportunities in the Middle East set to double with the Fourth Industrial Revolution Women at work: Job opportunities in the Middle East set to double with the Fourth Industrial Revolution 5 Chapter 1: have a wide range of demographic Digitization: New profiles and the progress toward opportunities and need for gender parity is not uniform across the upskilling Creating opportunities for board. They are in different stages of Digitization, the use of data to make economic development – some will take better and faster decisions,6 is a key longer to capture the opportunities of women in the future future-of-work trend across the Middle automation, AI, and other trends related East. This trend is expected to impact to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. all sectors and will create new job But they will be impacted, hopefully for opportunities, but requires women to the better if we can equip women to The nature of work is changing, adoption will vary from country to acquire new skills in technology and The share of women in participate and take advantage of this affecting more than 1.2 billion full-time country, depending on factors including digital. opportunity. highly productive jobs equivalents globally.3 As technology economic growth and wage levels. But Digitization will likely have a high impact could more than double advances, it transforms careers: how no geography or sector will remain Our research has identified four across all sectors and occupations, we work, where we work, and the untouched. In this report we zoomed ‘future of work’ trends in the by 2030 to achieve parity driving exponential growth in the sectors we work in. All economies, in on seven countries in the Middle region: continuous and fast-paced demand for tech skills up to 2030 and as technology shapes both emerging and mature, stand to East region—Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, digitization, the proliferation of digital creating new job opportunities for tech- gain from the hefty productivity boosts Lebanon, Oman, KSA, and the UAE— platforms, a growing impetus towards the future of work educated women (Exhibit 2).7 that robotics and artificial intelligence home to 78 million women and a total entrepreneurship and increased will bring. The pace and extent of GDP of $1.6 trillion.4,5 These countries automation (Exhibit 15). Women in the workforce will need to acquire digital skills to compete for these jobs, while all high- and medium- 3 skilled employees (98 percent of Technology, jobs and the future of work, McKinsey & Company, May 2017, mckinsey.com 4 8 World development indicators, World Bank, 2018 real GDP figures, databank.worldbank.org working women) will increasingly need 5 We have taken the definition of the Levant to include Egypt; accordingly, we explored the situation in Egypt, to adapt to digital tools and advanced Jordan, and Lebanon. Among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, we centered on Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE analytics in their current jobs (Exhibit 3).