This report describes the position of women in the labour market and their economic activities, specifically in business management and leadership in the MENA region. It discusses the challenges, opportunities, and developments for more women to enter the labour market and to advance as business owners and corporate managers. It aims to inspire constructive discussions in the region and motivate actors in the world of work to achieve gender equality at all levels. Chapters two, three and four review the most recently available indicators on women’s participation in the labour market, as managers, employers and own account workers. These sections rely on ILO statistical databases, as well as drawing on surveys such as the ILO Company Survey conducted in 2013 and studies conducted by renowned institutions and official data sources in order to sketch a general picture. The scarcity of data limits comparability and aggregation and thus examples from the region are used to highlight key features of MENA with respect to women in business. The fifth chapter provides a business rationale for augmenting the representation of women in management and leadership in the private sector. As little research is available to make a business case based on studies conducted in the region, global research findings are presented. The sixth chapter discusses the main challenges for women to break through the glass ceiling and to avoid the leaking pipeline in the MENA region. The seventh and eighth chapters present initiatives and emerging opportunities worth pursuing especially targeting the private sector at large. Finally, the last chapter offers avenues for action, specifically for the private sector and for business and employers’ organizations.

As women overtake men in education, they are running a third of the world’s businesses. However, women business owners are concentrated in small and micro-businesses, and still only 5 per cent or less of CEOs of the largest global corporations are women. This report highlights the business case for gender diversity and the obstacles women still face as well as ways to move ahead, underlining the fact that women’s presence in the labour market is increasingly significant for economic growth and development at both enterprise and national levels. It advocates for a greater role for national business organizations, which can assist their member companies with putting in place policies and measures to recruit and retain talent. The report also shows that women still have to deal with a number of hurdles to reach positions as CEOs and company board members. While women have advanced in business and management, they continue to be shut out of higher level economic decision-making despite activism in the last decade to smash the “glass ceiling”. The report calls for a closer examination of the career paths of women and men to ensure that subtle gender biases are eliminated, proposing an array of initiatives that challenge gender stereotypes and corporate cultures, and that seek to reconcile work and family responsibilities.

This report examines how current legal provisions in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia are impacting women’s ability to fully participate in economic life, both as employees and entrepreneurs. It is based on a comparative analysis of the various rights set out in constitutions, personal status laws, labour laws, in addition to tax and business laws. The report recognises the considerable progress made – in particular in the aftermath of the 2011 uprisings – following the adoption of constitutional and institutional reforms to strengthen women’s status. Yet ensuring sufficient opportunities for women remains a challenge in the six countries. The report suggests that this may be due to different factors such as: the existence of certain laws that are gender discriminatory, contradictions between various legal frameworks, lack of enforcement mechanisms, and barriers for women in accessing justice. Through targeted policies, countries can tackle these challenges, and help unleash women’s potential to boost growth, competitiveness and inclusive social development.

The report synthesizes findings from in-depth interviews conducted with women beneficiaries of projects in Egypt and Morocco, and provides a preliminary understanding of household-level results of BMZ funded women’s economic empowerment activities for women who had experienced some aspect of economic empowerment. It provides insight into how and why they experienced changes within their households, as well as on unanticipated effects that can only be captured through qualitative research.

The labour market in most MENA countries is highly segmented, with women’s work and enterprise activity clustering in a narrow number of sectors considered to be culturally ‘appropriate’. Women are overrepresented in the public sector, which is seen to provide a more accommodating and flexible environment than the private sector, particularly for married women. While the portion of women working in agriculture varies across countries, some evidence points to an increasing ‘feminisation of agriculture’ in the region. Though statistics are considered unreliable, available data indicates that much of women’s work is informal, offering little social insurance and entitlements, and typically low wages. A significant portion of women’s work in the region is thought to be ‘vulnerable’ employment, meaning it offers them little protection against economic shocks.