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.

The paper examines women’s integration in the labor force in the Gulf Arab states, paying special attention to differences in public and private sector employment, and national and migrant female labor participation. There are a number of barriers to women’s full economic and political inclusion in Gulf societies.

This paper was prepared by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) as a background paper contributing to the Arab Sustainable Development Report. It focuses on gender equality as a core element to achieve sustainable development. It tackles gender mainstreaming as a strategy to overcome gender inequalities. In addition, this paper discusses proposed sustainable development goals (SDGs) that tackle the gender dimension within the context of the development problematique in Arab countries.

The Collective for Research and Training on Development – Action recently published a research report by Tina Wallace on Women’s Work in Lebanon. This publication falls within CRTD.A’s regional program “Sustainable Economic Empowerment for Women” (SEOW phase 3). The study draws on research data and debates from Lebanon to describe and understand women’s work and their involvement in the three sectors of the economy (formal, paid and regulated sector; informal and unregulated sector; responsibilities and work within the domestic context, the care economy). The author focuses on the invisible part of women’s work (unpaid domestic and care work) and its implications for women’s economic participation and the recognition of Lebanese women’s contribution to the economy.