DUBAI: Women in the UAE are breaking the glass ceiling, veering away from their traditional roles, which they see as archaic considering the changing times, and joining the workforce to pursue a career, gain financial independence and travel, a recent regional survey by jobs portal Bayt.com and YouGov, a global online market research company, revealed.
Entitled Working Women in the MENA, the social research revealed that financial independence (57%) is a key reason why women enter the workforce in the UAE.
Some 48% female respondents said they seek employment to support or financially contribute to the household and 48% do it to broaden perspectives in life, Bayt.com said in its report of the survey results.
Roba Al-Assi, Bayt.com marketing director, said the survey was done to “identify the employment challenges that today’s working women confront and examines how companies can innovate and alleviate these concerns to improve their workplaces.”
This, she said, in light of the fact that more and more employers are interested in ensuring their workplaces are effectively attracting and retaining all types of talents.
“For example, this survey shows that companies can increase productivity by finding new, innovative ways to support professionals with children to balance between work and life, as half of the respondents stated that their decision to have children has affected their career,” she said.
Highlights
Meantime, an analysis of survey data highlights some very concrete truths about the progress of female empowerment within the UAE, stated the report.
It said establishing a successful career emerged as the main source of happiness for most of female respondents (52%), travelling to other countries is also important for them (37%), followed by maintaining good health (36%).
To understand what female professionals value in their decision to take a job, the survey asked respondents to reflect on which job characteristics were important to them in choosing their most recent job.
“Overall,” Bayt.com said, “the majority (58%) of respondents selected a higher salary as the most important benefit, nearly two-fifths (39%) stated that opportunities for long term career growth were also very important to them as were flexible working hours (25%).”
Gender equality
Kerry McLaren, Head of Omnibus MENA at YouGov they teamed up with Bayt.com to analyze female job satisfaction in the region.
McLaren said they found important links between women’s job satisfaction and an employer’s culture and benefits.
“While most of our respondents believe women and men are treated equally at their employer; when women report there is gender inequality at work, the #1 cited issue is with respect to promotions. This survey will help employers focus on what matters to women in the workplace,” McLaren said.
Data for the Bayt.com and YouGov’s Working Women in the MENA 2018 was collected online from October 21 to November 22, 2018. Results were based on a sample of 633 respondents. Countries assessed include UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Sudan.
