“Gender and Economics in the Middle East and Northern Africa: From Theory to Policy Making”

Dubai, UAE November 2008

Swishing black abaiyas, one more beautifully nuanced than the other, wraps and head scarves of incredible color and pattern, a surprising number of wonderful male researchers some sporting blue suits some the traditional  dishdashas  and a few of us in standard, rather boring, western attire gathered for an intriguing two day conference that connected the themes of economic prosperity and gender equality. The conference focused more heavily on theory than policy making, but excellent presentations were made as well as many wonderful connections, stimulating conversations and encouragement that so much good research on a topic once viewed as difficult and peripheral is being accomplished around the Middle East and North Africa.

It was an exciting couple of days and underscored one more time for me that as important as it is to be working with hard data in the area of gender, it is absolutely critical that the data be presented in a form that policy makers can actually use. My own interventions underscored my personal experience that research needs to be presented in clear, crisp messages for policy makers and ideally should be deliverable in a brief period of time, as usually that's all the time you will have. Data needs to capture the imagination of the policy maker.

In my personal experience briefing policy makers and political leaders, where I have been able to link gender issues to goals of economic growth and competitiveness or improved customer service to all tax payers, including women, I have been able to get the attention of even the highest level policy makers (often in less than ten minutes).  By emphasizing women's human resources as a means to grow the economy, enhance competitiveness, introduce creativity, innovation and diversity in other words  by framing women's issues as economic issues rather than issues of equal rights, it is easier to make a connection with policy makers. Economic arguments, facts and figures are a traditional part of most policy makers responsibilities and their thinking process hence introducing women issues in this context makes the issue easier to understand and to connect to the official's personal and political interests. There are also many more policy officials working on economic issues than on issues of women's rights. There are therefore many more potential allies for policy changes that women may be advocating.

Hosted by the World Bank, the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research and the Dubai School of Government, the conference featured Nobel laureate Gary Becker, former World Bank president James Wolfenson, prominent researchers from around the region, senior officials from the World Bank, and several prominent regional business women.

Echoing the remarks of many speakers representatives of the Dubai School of Government stated the issue clearly,

“..the national strategy [of Dubai] aims to improve its competitive position. To be competitive in the long term, however, the country needs to utilize the full potential of its human capital. This involves making use of the education, skills and productivity of its entire population, including women”

(Policy Brief June 2008 Gender Equality in the United Arab Emirates: A Driver for Increased Competitiveness” Christine Assad

As a group the countries of the Middle East and Northern Africa do not score well on the World Economic Forum Gender Gap scale. While impressive progress has been made in women's education and health and in some countries in political empowerment and leadership, women's performance in the economic categories is lower than in any other region in the world.

“Numerous studies indicate that sustainable development is dependent on improving the economic and political status of women and that reducing gender inequality enhances productivity and economic growth”

( Ricardo Hausman, Laura D. Tyson and Saadia Zahidi, The Global Gender Gap Report, 2007, World Economic Forum 2007).

“Despite the clear linkages between labor force and economic growth, Arab women's work is among the world's most under-utilized resource as they are still excluded from paid work, and many do not utilize their skills in productive activities”

 ( CAWTAR Thematic Program 2001-2008 Women Empowerment in the Economic Sphere”)

The main conference organizer, the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) established to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the Arab world is a non-profit institution mainly funded and supported by regional and international organizations. CAWTAR has launched a number of initiatives to support its mission. The Arab Network for Gender and Development (ANGED) serves to ensure outreach and dissemination of information about priority issues in gender and development. The Gender Economic Research and Policy Analysis (GERPA) project seeks to mainstream gender-related issues into research and policy analysis of regional researchers. 

The major research topics presented at the conference included Education and Health, Labor Market Participation and Poverty,Women's Entrepreneurship: Potential and Challenges, Teaching Gender and Public Policy in the Arab World, Improving Data Collection in the Arab World: Creating Linkages Between Government Agencies and Research Organizations ,Advancing the Role of National Machineries for Women, How to Better Use Research Findings to Better Advocate Women's Empowerment.

Links to the organizers are listed below

Center of Arab Women Training and Research

www.CAWTAR.org

Dubai School of Government

www.DSG.ae

World Bank