As more and more women in the Middle East rise up the ranks in their corporations, assume leadership positions, open their own businesses and choose to balance career and family, demands on regional workplaces are changing and corporations are increasingly challenged to find creative means to retain their female staff and facilitate their welcome choice to balance career and family. In a recent bayt.com poll, over 46% of respondents said the number of high ranking professional women in their organisations have been increasing, with less than 15% saying they had no high ranking professional women in their organisation.
Working women however do not feel too comfortable yet in making demands of regional employers as evidenced in a separate bayt.com poll run in April, where over 50.2% of respondents claimed that gender played a large role in hiring and promotions activities within their organisations; a climate not too conducive to tipping the balance in favour of the career/family marriage.
This poll comes at a time when the UK has just implemented its Work and Families Act 2006 which will have an immediate and significant impact on the ability of working women to balance career with family demands. The Act will see a number of important changes including:-
- New mothers/adopters of babies due/adopted on or after 1st April 2007 will be entitled to 39 weeks maternity allowance/statutory adoption pay.
- Length of service requirement for additional maternity leave will be waived – all women entitled to ordinary maternity leave will be entitled to additional maternity leave, which allows them to take up to one year off work.
- A woman can start her SMP payment on any day and begin her maternity leave on the same day.
- Employers and employees have new rights to keep in touch during maternity or adoption leave. - Employees are required to give 8 weeks notice of return to work.
- Carers of disabled adults will be able to request flexible working hours. What can regional corporations do to keep female staff on board and happy? A lot. All indications point to the fact that the number of working women in the region is growing rapidly and justifies implementing long-term measures that allow for career longevity and optimal productivity without sacrificing family obligations.
A recent survey conducted by the American University of Sharjah and the Pan Arab Research Centre (see Emirates Today April 2, 2007) revealed that 99 per cent of young UAE educated women want to work. The research signals a major shift in attitudes with many educated young females set on building a career.
In a departure from traditional preferences, an astonishing 42 per cent of women surveyed said they would prefer to work in the private sector and only 1% said they favored staying at home. If women in the region are to approach their careers as a marathon rather than a sprint and sustain their growth and productivity over the long-term, employers can help by providing an environment conducive to long term growth and development that respects their family obligations and appreciates the need for work/life balance.
