Progress in female education and employment in the United Arab Emirates towards Millennium Development Goal (3): gender equality

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the progress in the United Arab Emirates towards achievement of Millennium Development Goal (3), ''gender equality'', by the target date of 2015.Design/methodology/approach -Demographic, social, and labor force statistics are collected from United Arab Emirates' government reports, the World Economic Forum, and UNESCO. Analysis is conducted to investigate current trends of gender equality in education and employment.Findings -Results for the education of women have been at a consistently high level for some years. Two themes are found for such progress: a government strategy to increase women's access to education; societal acceptance of educated women. Gender equality in employment is slow due to three themes: study choice dictates employment potential; recruitment within a narrow range of occupations; employment more likely within public sector employment. The future of gender equality in the United Arab Emirates will continue to be more positive for women in education than for employment.Research limitations/implications -A limitation is the paucity of academic study about gender equality in education and employment in the United Arab Emirates. Reliability and validity of the study is somewhat limited by unverified, non-specific, and older data on education and employment.Practical implications -Improved strategies to increase study choice are required to enlarge the scope of women's careers. Management of the talent pool of educated females can increase women's share of paid employment in the future.Social implications -A faster rate of change is required towards societal acceptance of women in employment to match female educational attainment.Originality/value -The research is important for two reasons relevant for achievement of MDG (3) by 2015. Remarkable progress has been made on gender equality in education, and awareness is raised on limitations in the future for the employment of women.

Influences of cultural orientations on Emirati women’s careers

“…Girls and women have benefited from extended educational access, gaining university qualifications that have increased their opportunity to participate in the workforce (Kemp, 2013a). Consequently, as the economies of the Arab Gulf states have developed, more women have been employed in both the private and public sectors (El Saadi, 2012;Hewlett and Rashid, 2011).…”

“…As an example, an influence on subsequent careers is a belief in the value of education for women held within the Muslim family unit (Kemp, 2013a;Moghadam, 2003Moghadam, , 2007Zovighian, 2012). We interpreted that the women placed a high value on Future Orientation, as their working futures were sustained via continued education from an early age through college and mature years.…”

The Role of Governmental and Non-Governmental Institutions and Associations on Women’s Empowerment in Najran, KSA

“…Kemp (2013) offered the experience of United Arab Emirates (UAE) towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (3) through the UAE government's strategy to increase women's empowerment access to education; and social acceptance of educated women. In Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Danish and Smith (2012) explore the challenges facing female entrepreneurs.…”

Collegiate Women in Saudi Arabia: Leading Collectively for the Development of Self, Others, and Society

“…Given the myriad of challenges and complexities in today's world, the demand for insights on leadership theory and practice within the paradigm of college student leadership beyond U.S. borders as related to collegiate women is more pertinent than before. However, leadership scholarship pertaining to collegiate women in non-Western contexts is limited (Kemp, 2013;Madsen, 2010aMadsen, , 2010bRenn & Lytle, 2010). This is particularly true when considering leadership education, training, and development of collegiate women in Arab countries.…”

“…In a longitudinal study, Posner (2009) (Kemp, 2013;Madsen, 2010aMadsen, , 2010bMetcalfe, 2007Metcalfe, , 2011. With the youth population surging, enrollment and graduation of women increasing, and rapid social, economic, and political changes occurring in the Arab region (Kemp, 2013;UNESCO, 2011), there is a need and an opportunity for leadership scholars and educators to expand the literature base on areas pertaining to leadership development of collegiate women in the region.…”