Bayt.com Survey: Working Women in the MENA

Are women and men treated equally at the workplace in the MENA region? What are the top challenges women face in their work environment? What about the key factors that affect women’s decision to take a job?

As economic and social factors have continued to alter the landscape for working women and their economic contributions are becoming increasingly important within households, it has become a necessity to understand the status of working women in the MENA region. Therefore, Bayt.com has conducted the “Working Women in the MENA” survey to provide comprehensive insights on the thoughts, feelings and aspirations of women across the region.

Key Findings:

• Financial independence (55%) is a key reason women enter the workforce.
• A large majority of respondents (76%) have a mix of men and women at their workplace.
• A majority of women believe that women and men are treated equally at their workplace across a variety of areas, including career progression (67%), recruitment and selection (63%), and benefits offered (55%).
• Personal health insurance (39%), paid maternity leave (38%), and job-related training (31%) are the top benefits women receive from their organizations.
• Establishing a successful career emerged as the main source of happiness for most of female respondents (49%).

Data for the Bayt.com and YouGov’s Working Women in the MENA survey was collected online from December 2, 2020 to January 7, 2021. Results are based on a sample of 1,243 female respondents from the following countries: UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Sudan among others.