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Gender roles and the workplace
Gender roles and the workplace
Gender roles and the workplace
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Financial barriers Since 2011, the MENA region has undergone extreme political turmoil, which has translated into weak and stagnant economic development. At a time when the region’s economy is struggling to stay afloat, women’s entrance into the workforce is crucial. Unfortunately, by nature of the economy, businesswomen face major obstacles that prevent them from starting businesses or expanding businesses they already own. Unfortunately, in the Middle East and North Africa, many businesses, particularly female owned SMEs, lack access to investment and financial resources they require to operate and expand. The most pressing challenge is women’s access to finance as well as the cost of finance. Since women are perceived to be more “risky” as entrepreneurs, collateral requirements for women are much stricter in comparison to men. Oftentimes, the collateral necessary for a loan is land or a property deed, which women tend to have little of. Moreover, it is difficult for women to provide collateral because they are often under the supervision of male relatives and cannot freely manage their assets. Women are also less likely to provide collateral because the risk of losing the land not only affects them but their family as well. Increased access to proper financing strategies and loans would allow businesswomen to expand their businesses internally and externally. This would result in a significant influx of sustainable businesses into the country, which would translate into substantial economic growth due to more job creation. Since women are often perceived as “risky,” commercial banks do not perceive women as a particular market share with distinct circumstances to consider. For this reason, banks provide women with very... ... middle of paper ... ... hinders business growth. Non-Financial Barriers Women business owners often have access to limited networks in comparison to their male counterparts and tend to have fewer connections with other entrepreneurs in their country or the region in general. Men have more access to connections and networks in the region that allow them to seek further business opportunities, information, and contacts. For this reason, women are significantly disadvantaged as entrepreneurs because they cannot connection to experienced professionals or seek out mentoring opportunities to educate them on best business practices or proper management skills. In the long run, this is extremely detrimental to the overall success of their business. Expansion of both personal and professional connections is a key resource women need to productively move forward with their business initiatives.
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 placed an ideological wedge that created an increasingly pervasive rift in gender equality that is now only gradually being successfully challenged and correct upon.
Women’s rights in the Middle East are being restricted, therefore there are many different reactions. Some people were in favor of women having equal rights while there are some who are against women to have the same rights. Since before times, many countries in the Middle East have been taking women for granted and minimized their rights by telling them they can't do something or selling them as if they were prized. When women were treated as prizes it was a practice in Afghanistan called Ba’ad that used women as the compensation, for example a story of a girl named Sakina. She was a consolation prize so that her brother could marry a woman and the Jirga system told her she had to marry a 80 year old guy when she was like 18. This tells me
Barsh, Joanna and Yee, Lareina. Unlocking the Full Potential of Women in the US Economy. McKinsey & Company. Accessed April 4, 2014.
... and women-owned as well as businesses in rural areas, have been among the hardest hit by the recent economic downturn
work place and allow women to be viewed as leaders or entrepreneurs of the business
Women are still trying to prove their worth in this male-dominated world where men still earn more than women in comparable jobs, and more opportunities are presented to male entrepreneurs than to female entrepreneurs. Gender inequality is still rife. Any woman who reads this book has to understand the dynamics of the business world from a female’s perspective before even beginning to pave the path for her own business.
During the last three years I have devoted a significant amount of time and energy to the betterment of young entrepreneurs, who in this country are mistreated, stripped of opportunities, and looked down upon. In my quest to start my own business, I faced many obstacles that I later found to plague all entrepreneurs in my country. Established family heads discourage their younger members from starting separate businesses; they would rather their younger members join them in the so called "safe business." Moreover, companies and government organizations will not award contracts to young people since older people earn respect for their age rather than their ideas in this traditional sub-continental culture. With an uncooperative family and no sources of funding, young entrepreneurs face little chance of success.
In the book, Women in the Middle East, a Saudi Arabian proverb states, "A girl possesses nothing but a veil and a tomb" (Harik and Marston 83). The key words, "veil" and "tomb" lend evidence to the fact that many Middle Eastern women lack identity symbolized by the “veil” and lack the right of ownership except for their veil and the tomb. This statement further enforces the notion that many women in the Middle East are expected to serve and tolerate the oppression of the men in their lives throughout their lives on this earth. Moreover, it confirms that many of these women do not get the opportunity to obtain education, join the work force, and even participate in the political affairs of the country. This arrangement further helps the Middle Eastern men to view women as their properties, servants, or even as slaves. Ultimately, there are three main reasons why Middle Eastern men engage in the act of oppressing their women.
There are nearly as many women as there are men working, yet, as it was discovered in 2011, on average, a woman will only earn seventy-seven cents for every dollar that a man earns. Women owned businesses make up for over a quarter of all national businesses and earn more than one point two trillion dollars (“Assessing the Past, Taking Stock of the Future” 6). Since many women are now becoming are the primary sources of income in the household, making less that a man does not only negatively affect families, but also the overall economy suffers as well. These women, among many others, are the ones who end up purchasing the supplies that go toward improving communities and stimulating the economy. There is no reason that the general public should stand for this. Women should be treated equally to men in today’s American society based on their biological compositions, psychological profiles and contributions to history.
Today, however, women have integrated themselves into every field of activity and every kind of industry smoothly and skillfully. Whether travelling twenty days of the month or accepting transfers, they are as performance-oriented, sincere, competent and persevering as their male counterparts, if not more. Their presence in the corporate world is now more a rule than an exception such that a feminist agenda and, in fact, any speci...
received the right to work menial jobs for minimum pay with less job security. She has
The Women of the Middle East have played substantial roles for their corresponding countries since the advent of colonialism in the region. Middle Eastern women have worked in all types of fields including medicine, education, agriculture, government, private sector, and even defense. They have kept roofs over their family’s heads while their husbands were away in wars, or even in foreign countries to work in jobs that they could not find in their own countries. The roles of women in the countries of Yemen and Oman are no exception, but while they still find ways to contribute to their country, they care constantly stereotyped, discriminated, and ridiculed by men who are known and unknown to them. This paper will discuss the individual contributions of the women living in Yemen and Oman, and will discuss in further state laws and cultural norms that are affecting the women living in these countries today.
Globalization has had a significant impact on the lives of women in the developing nations, which we will further examine in the two countries – Bangladesh and Kenya. In this paper, Globalization is defined as “a complex economic, political, cultural, and geographic process in which the mobility of capital, organizations, ideas, discourses, and people has taken a global or transnational form (Valentine Moghadam 1999). Globalization has more negative effects on women in third world countries such as Kenya and Bangladesh. Corporations hire people in the third world countries, due to the cheap labor force. Corporations like to hire more women than men in the cheap labor force, because women “work in labor intensive industries at lower wages than men would accept and in conditions that unions would not permit “ (Moghadam 1999). There has been a shift from the agrarian sector to commercial and industrial sectors which pays more. Women also experience social and economic injustice while at work. Females generally hold a secondary status compared to males, both in the household and the work environment. Although the women labor force in the industrial and commercial sectors get paid higher wages then women who work on farms, the wages are not enough to keep them from depending on the financial support of males in their family. This in turn makes the female gender much more depended and prone to exploitation in many ways. The inability of female workers to generate enough capital to support themselves as well as their families, suggests that until wages increase along with better working conditions, the economies of Kenya and Bangladesh will continue to exist in poverty. At the same time, women are given opportunities to work and become ...
“For most of history, anonymous was a woman –Virginia Wolf.” For women, the path to equality in the home and workforce has been a long hard fought battle that is still taking place as we speak. With every victory that has taken place, there have also been road blocks at every turn, many shed tears, resistance, and an unwavering belief felt by men, that women truly will never amount to anything other than a housewife. If the women from the start of this battle were to see the great strides taken place over the years and the place women are at now, they would stand in utter disbelief. It is with great thanks that we as women are able to flourish as individuals; letting our goals, dreams, aspirations, and intelligence take the forefront of our duties to society.
Women leaders have the crucial soft skills of empathy, innovation, facilitation, and active listening (Masaoka, 2006). They also have first-hand life experiences that bring technical skills and experiences from the street level to the workplace (Masoka, 2006). Women often build stronger relationships with clients and outside contacts than their male counterparts. This relationship building skill, provides a key aspect which helps to move businesses forward (Giber et al., 2009). Fortune 500 companies with a high percentage of women significantly outperformed those with fewer women. Companies with the highest representation of women showed higher returns on equity than those with fewer women employees (Giber et al., 2009). Thus, future organizations may have a higher percentage of female leaders than we have experienced in the past. Future leaders must ensure that there is equality among the workforce and that women are accurately represented among the