Women’s participation in the UAE labour force grew from 34 per cent to 46 per cent between 2000 and 2014 but the increase has been accompanied by a rising female unemployment rate, a new report from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows.
The drop in employment is driven by higher education attainment in the Emirates, according to BCG's How Organisations In The Middle East Can Stretch Their Diversity Spend study, that was not matched by an increase in relevant opportunities.
Gender inequality creates an average global income loss of 13.5 per cent due to gaps in occupational choices and in labour force participation, said BCG. The figure is the lowest in Europe at 10 per cent and highest in the Middle East and North Africa region at 27 per cent.
“To develop and empower the female leaders of tomorrow, CEOs and senior leaders should integrate gender diversity as a core part of the organisation's strategic objectives and ensure organisation-wide communication and engagement. In particular, the commitment of middle management will be critical, as that is who engages every day with employees, and is responsible for performance assessments and promotions,” said Leila Hoteit, a partner and managing director at BCG Middle East.
All GCC countries have seen significant improvement in women’s workforce participation, with large organisations particularly successful in implementing “cutting-edge flexible schemes and arrangement for female employees”, the report said.
However, such initiatives can only work if the right steps are introduced such as flexible working arrangements and inclusive policies.
The study noted that cultural bias still exists in the MIdlde East with women perceived as “unsuitable” for some jobs and regulations can also act as a barrier.
_______________
Read more:
A former US investment banker is on a mission to help women retire rich with robo advice
South Korean cosmetics major targets Muslim women
How women face challenges in the business world
_______________
It also noted that adopting quotas can be a winning strategy, referring to the UAE Cabinet’s decision in 2012 to enact a law requiring listed companies and government agencies to reserve at least 30 per cent of their board seats for women.
The BCG report also recommends six actions to empower the GCC’s female leaders of tomorrow, such as including gender diversity as a strategic objective and ensuring senior leaders and middle managers are on board with such initiatives, as well as ensuring fairness and the removal of conscious or unconscious bias.
The consultancy also highlights the value of female role models in leadership positions, citing the example of the UAE which in October 2008 saw its first female judge sworn in.
Following that appointment, the Dubai Women Establishment noted an increase in applications from Emirati women for this career path.
“The same thing happened following the appointment of the first UAE female jet fighter pilot in 2007, also the first woman in the UAE Air Force to lead a mission abroad in 2014,” the report said.
Another recommendation was fostering high-potential women by removing the stigma associated with flexible working practices by also making them available to male colleagues.
"Retention, advancement and leadership-building are the key areas on which organisations should focus. Applying best practices in retaining talent, ensuring fairness and equal opportunities, removing any conscious or unconscious bias, and promoting role models are the key tools," concluded Ms Hoteit.
According to World Economic Forum’s Human Capital Index, the Mena region only captures 62 per cent of its human capital potential. Closing the gender gap would increase UAE GDP, for example, by over 12 per cent, it estimates.
A July report by Deloitte found women are still largely under-represented on corporate boards, despite continued efforts to improve gender diversity. The study revealed that women hold just 15 per cent of board seats worldwide – figures that were even lower in this region with women holding no more than 2 per cent of seats in the GCC.
Rana Ghandour Salhab, a partner at Deloitte, said a direct correlation was found between female leadership (chief executives and chairs) to board seats held by women. “Organisations with women in the top leadership positions have almost doubled the number of board seats held by women. The inverse is true as well, with gender diverse boards more likely to appoint a female CEO and board chair,” she said.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20OneOrder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tamer%20Amer%20and%20Karim%20Maurice%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cairo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E82%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Series%20A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
