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Female employment status: a survey analysis of selected member states of the Arab League

Author

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  • Meltem Ucal

    (Kadir Has University)

  • Simge Günay

    (Kadir Has University)

Abstract

Low female labor force participation is a conspicuous issue in the literature. Based on this information, women’s perspectives of the determinants of female labor force participation in 13 member states of the Arab League in relation to the region’s patriarchal culture and conservative social norms are discussed in this paper. Probit modelling is applied to the sixth wave of the World Values Survey data (2010–2014), in order to examine the relationship between female labor force participation and socio-cultural variables, such as women’s perceptions about the importance of religion, the priority of religion compared with science, the importance of traditions for women, the priority of men concerning the right to a job and the importance of a job for women’s independence, and personal characteristics, such as women’s social class, marital status, number of children, educational level and age. The results indicate that the number of children and the importance given to tradition and religion by women are obstacles to increasing their labor force participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Meltem Ucal & Simge Günay, 2019. "Female employment status: a survey analysis of selected member states of the Arab League," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(3), pages 373-394, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurase:v:9:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s40822-017-0089-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s40822-017-0089-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Isis Gaddis & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "Economic development, structural change, and women’s labor force participation:," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 639-681, July.
    2. Jennifer Olmsted, 2005. "Gender, Aging, And The Evolving Arab Patriarchal Contract," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 53-78.
    3. Miles, Rebecca, 2002. "Employment and Unemployment in Jordan: The Importance of the Gender System," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 413-427, March.
    4. Farzana Chowdhury & David Audretsch, 2014. "Institution as looting apparatus: impact of gender equality and institutions on female entrepreneurship," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 4(2), pages 207-225, December.
    5. repec:wbk:wbpubs:12550 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Ross, Michael L., 2008. "Oil, Islam, and Women," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 102(1), pages 107-123, February.
    7. World Bank, 2013. "Opening Doors : Gender Equality and Development in the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 12552.
    8. Sulayman Al-Qudsi, 1998. "Labour participation of Arab women: estimates of the fertility to labour supply link," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(7), pages 931-941.
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    Cited by:

    1. Liu, De-chih, 2021. "The Unemployment Invariance Hypothesis: Does the Gender Matter?," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 62(2), pages 178-199, December.
    2. Emad Attia Mohamed Omran & Yuriy Bilan, 2020. "The Impact of Fiscal Policy on the Unemployment Rate in Egypt," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 16(4), pages 199-209.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Female employment status; Arab League; Conservative social norms; Survey analysis; Generalized ordered logit model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C50 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - General
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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