Gender-based differences in employment conditions of local and expatriate workers in the GCC context

Abstract

Purpose -The labor force participation rates of females have been increasing steadily over the past few decades in the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and are expected to continue to increase due to increasing levels of education and social change. While, there is a substantive amount of literature on the issues of gender gap in wages and employment conditions in Western developed economies, the evidence from developing economies -especially in the Middle East -remains very scant. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to bridging this gap by examining gender-based differences in employment conditions for local and expatriate workers in the context of the GCC region. Design/methodology/approach -The authors utilize a data set from the 2007 cross-section Dubai Labor Market Survey which covers a stratified random sample of employees in the UAE labor market. In addition to descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations of the data by workers' gender, nationality, and various characteristics of their employment conditions, two empirical models intended to investigate factors that influence access to employment and wage determination of male and female workers in the UAE labor market were estimated. Findings -The findings of the study reveal that there are gender-based differences and inequity in employment in the UAE labor market. The authors highlight specific impacts of contextual factors on the employment conditions of women compared to men. The gender gap in the UAE context is compounded by nationality effects; whereby gender-based differences become less apparent in the case of foreign workers compared to UAE nationals. Originality/value -This paper is one of very few studies that addressed the gender gap in employment conditions in the Arab Middle Eastern or GCC context. The paper uses quantitative data from a large random sample of workers in the UAE.

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“…Women in the GCC region have been deprived of several rights, some so basic as the right to drive a car until recently in Saudi Arabia. Despite positive signs, women still suffer from inequalities such as discrimination in the workplace, being overlooked for promotions and unable to undertake certain employment opportunities deemed dangerous by decision-makers and therefore reserved for men (Al-Waqfi and Abdalla Al-faki 2015;Salem and Yount 2019). The SDGs' emphasis on multisectoral partnership within and beyond borders is contingent upon enhancing the effectiveness of existing collaborations and innovating with new ones that promote the sustainability agenda and instil ownership.…”

Contextualizing privilege and disadvantage: Lessons from women expatriates in the Middle East

“…Given the role of these regulations in reproducing the gendered socio-cultural order, it could be argued that institutional and organizational arrangements, such as laws and policies that affect employment protection and rights in the Middle East, are gendered. These regulations promote lack of employment flexibility, less favourable wages, discrimination in employment selection and limited career progression (Al-Waqfi and Al-Faki, 2015), so it is important to bring to the fore the experiences of women expatriates as part of a cycle of simultaneous privilege and disadvantage. This helps us to interrogate the narratives of success associated with global mobile professionals and gain a better understanding of the cycles of disadvantage that affect particular groups of workers, such as women expatriates.…”

“…In particular, socio-cultural and political realities present challenges to women expatriates, especially in contexts where gendered division of labour restricts women’s participation in the labour market. For instance, the literature about the Middle East has highlighted the historical centrality of patriarchal regimes in defining societal structures, and how patriarchal relationality serves as an organizing principle of social and work relationships (Al-Waqfi and Al-Faki, 2015; Joseph and Slyomovics, 2011).…”

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