Sociology and Social Science - PDF

Running head: SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Sociology and Social Science
Name of the Student
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Research structure........................................................................................................................2
Objective of the research.............................................................................................................3
Research problem:.......................................................................................................................3
Literature review:.............................................................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
Gender gap and inequality...........................................................................................................4
ALMP..........................................................................................................................................5
Political empowerment of Women of MENA region..................................................................5
Population of MENA region........................................................................................................6
Key trends....................................................................................................................................6
Gender equality can promote development.................................................................................7
Educating the women population................................................................................................8
Government’s intervention..........................................................................................................9
Job opportunities in MENA region............................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
In today’s world, gender equality has earned a critical concern for the improvement of the
labor market situation among young men and women in the MENA countries or the countries of
North Africa and Middle East (Garcia 2017). MENA region is considered as the region that faces
highest youth unemployment in terms of all the Asian and Western countries and it is a matter of
fact that the situation is graver for the young women who reside there. From a survey which was
conducted in the year of 2015, it was seen that where 77% of the young males are employed in
MENA region, only 27% of the female population are empowered and this statistic is very
concerning in today’s world. In the year of 2014 it was seen that the percentage of unemployed
young women exceeded the rate of unemployed young men by more than 20% and day by day
the situation is worsening (James-Hawkins et al. 2018). It is a matter of fact that the
unemployment among the young women actually increased when the literacy rate among the
women population got increased in MENA region and this particular statistic is shocking as for
educated women, in the MENA region there are no job opportunities. The situation is more
concerning in the countries like Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt.
Research structure
For this research there will be a proper introduction, aims and objectives for the research
and a problem statement will be incorporated there. After that a detailed literature relevant to the
topic of the research is provided. The literature review contains detailed information regarding
gender gaps, inequality in the job market, key trends, government intervention and the job
opportunities along with opportunities to receive education for the young women of MENA
region. After that a conclusion is incorporated in the paper. For this particular research work

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information relevant to the topic of the research will be gathered from numerous secondary
sources like journals, books, websites and magazines for preparing the literature review. After
that primary data will be collected by surveying the young women of the age group of 20 to 30
years old for collecting primary information relevant to the topic of this particular research work.
Then the data will be analyzed by the researcher.
Objective of the research
The objective of this research is to highlight
 The young women population of the MENA region is extremely deprived of the job
opportunities.
 To raise voice against the fact that there are no job openings for the educated young
women of MENA region.
Research problem:
As the women population of the MENA region are constantly getting deprived of their
rights to receive education or the right to participate in the job market is making them getting
lagged behind without having economic empowerment. Lesser job opportunities for women and
especially for the educated women in the MENA region are the main problem which is why this
research work is being conducted.

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Literature review:
Introduction
It has been seen that in MENA countries the gender gap is closing both education and
health sector and that is limiting the opportunities of generating job opportunities in the market
of those respective nations. In this regard it can be said that until and unless the education and
health related issues that are harming the gender balance of these nations will get fixed, it would
be impossible to effectively empower the women of those regions (El Feki, Heilman, and Barker
2017). The uprising in the Arabic nations regarding this issue appeared to be somewhat effective
and that worked like a catalyst and the youth women population was successful to break some of
the old beliefs and generated a wave of civic engagement with women in important sectors like
business and politics. As stated by James-Hawkins et al. (2018), it is a matter of fact that in
today’s world that much transition cannot be considered to be enough and therefore it can be said
that where in other developed regions of the globe women are playing important role in
important sectors like politics, business, healthcare and education, why the women who reside in
MENA countries will be deprived of the normal life they deserve. In recent times, it can be seen
that some major developmental initiations has been taken by the governments of some of the
MENA countries to deal with this burning societal issue (Bhatt 2017). It can be said that in the
last couple of years the gender gap has been narrowed down a little but there are immense room
for improvement as the women population of that particular region of the globe is in real distress
as they are deprived of the basic needs and societal life.
Gender gap and inequality
As depicted by El Feki, Heilman, and Barker (2017), it is a matter of fact that the issues
of gender equality are a complex matter which is multidimensional also. Therefore, in order to

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realize what can be effective to promote empowerment of women, it can definitely be said that
the government should focus on economic empowerment of women population in important
sectors and the relative outcomes for males versus females should be overcome (Baliamoune‐
Lutz 2016). In this regard, it can be said that the gender related measurement tools which are
existing and are successful indicators of the gaps needs to be assessed to determine their
applicability for tracking, designing and evaluating the youth ALMP (Active Labor Market
Policies).As depicted by El Feki, Heilman, and Barker (2017), it has been already established
that gender equality promotes development of the country and reduction in poverty significantly
and therefore the governments of the MENA countries should emphasize on balancing the
gender gaps and take serious initiatives to fight this societal ill. It has been estimated by
conducting surveys that if the women population of the MENA countries take actively part in the
development of small business, that can effectively play a significant role in job creation and the
household earnings per annum can significantly rise up to 25%. It can also be said that effective
empowerment of women population can lead to the wellbeing of their families and as a whole for
the society. It can be said that the recent trend in closing the gender gaps is of course a sign of
improvement and that is highly needed in the present scenario (Hammad et al. 2018).
ALMP
ALMP is an important tool that the government and the developing partners for this
particular cause can effectively use to address the challenges in the youth employment and
especially for the employment of youth women population of the respective countries (Garcia
2017). In this regard, it would be worthwhile to mention that in MENA countries very few
nations’ governments focus on ALMP for young women; and for an example, it can be said that

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in the job market of Egypt, merely 9% of the ALMPs are focused on the women population of
that country (Thabet 2015).
Political empowerment of Women of MENA region
It has been observed that the women population residing in MENA region isvulnerable to
suppression and discrimination of the basic rights they deserve. As opined by Naila (2016), there
are limitations n their participation in the political sectors though the situation started to improve
by the advent of 21st century but still there are a lot of issues needs to be addressed. In recent
years, the revival of feminism and the awareness regarding these issues have improved the
situation to some extent for the women population. The governments of the MENA countries
have somehow realized that if the women population of their country actively participate in the
political affairs it would be beneficial for the society and it can effectively help to enhance
women empowerment in that particular region (James-Hawkins et al. 2018). Therefore it can be
said that wider and equal participation of women population can effectively enhance the situation
of the MENA region. As depicted by El Feki, Heilman, and Barker (2017), it is seen that in
today’s world women are striving to participate in the decision making processes and lesser
participation of the women can be degrading for the women population and naturally the states
will be deprived of the services they could have utilized that the population of young women
could have offered.
It can be said that low political empowerment of women in MENA region may be a result
of the similarities in the cultural and ideological values of the countries of MENA region and in
this regard, it is worthwhile to mention that it is possible that if the women population gets the
right to participate in political affairs, it can effectively improve the situation for the best
interests of the society (Hammad et al. 2018).

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Population of MENA region
The huge population of young men and women is a feature of MENA region and it can
be said that the presence of young population in the MENA region implies that those countries
have the potential to rise economically tough the main question that arises in this particular
context is that how these transformations can give a boost to the women empowerment which is
the main topic of this discussion.
Key trends in the job market of MENA region
It is a matter of fact that the major trends in the development of the population of the
countries that fall under MENA region includes the large labor force, opportunities for economic
growths of the respective nations and the better opportunities to get education. As stated by
Badran and Farid (2017), it has been observed that the growth rate of the literate young
population in currently creating various job opportunities in the job market of the MENA
countries and it has also been observed that; as education determines qualification and the
potential professional development of an individual, people who are highly qualified are most
likely to get decent jobs; but the problem arises as in recent times too, the government and the
private business sectors are failing to create job opportunities in the market (Moghadam 2016).
Therefore, it can be said that a large wave if the educated young population of MENA countries
create conditions of the accelerated economic growth of MENA countries not only that, the
countries of MENA region has a potential to create a rich disposal of effective human resources
but due to lack of governmental initiation the countries are not being able to perform up to their
ability (Badran and Farid 2017).

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Gender equality can promote development
As stated by James-Hawkins et al. (2018), it can be said that gender equality is important
for the growth and development of any country as when the gender quality is present in the
workforce, naturally the depth of the human resources gets bigger and the job opportunities
emerge. It has been seen that the gender quality promotes the development of the job market
significantly. It has already been estimated that if the females of MENA region participate in the
job market just like the male population of that region does, it can effectively increase the
income of each household up to 25% and that is enormous achievement (Hammad et al. 2018).
Not only that empowering the women population can effectively increase the well being of
human kind and while the women population of the other parts of the globe is enjoying their
lives and their participation in every important sector, why would the women population of this
particular area would be deprived of the rights that they have (Avis 2017). Therefore, it can be
said that if the female labor force participates the job market of MENA region, it would be
immensely beneficial for the economy of those countries under MENA region. ALMP’s
utilization is important for the growth and development of any country’s economic sector. It has
been seen that the government of MENA region should realize what it requires to promote
women’s empowerment and ALMP’s focus should be on those factors. The government of this
particular region should focus on improving the measurement tools to determine the gender
inequality and take subsequent decisions (Garcia 2017).
Educating the women population
Education is one of the key elements that can effectively promote women empowerment
in MENA region and it has been observed that though in the last decade the opportunities to
study has developed for the women population, but there are much more improvements required

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for this particular sector. The government of the countries of MENA region should amend the
policies associated with women education and the governments should proactively promote
education for women in order to negate the gender gap in the labor market (Avis 2017).
Graph: literacy rate
Source:(Badran and Farid 2017)
The above graph suggests that there is lot of areas of improvements to promote and
enhance education for women population of the MENA countries and it can be said that
government’s participation and along with that awareness should be increased among the women
population regarding this issue. It is a matter of fact that as the women population of particular
that region is lagging behind due to lack of academic qualification it can easily be assumed that
that has a major effect in the job market and the women population in MENA region is not
getting adequate opportunities to work or participate in the job market (Avis 2017).

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Government’s intervention
As opined by Naila (2016), it has been seen that the though governments of the countries
of MENA region somehow improved their course of actions regarding improving the situation of
young women population. It has been seen that women of that particular region of this globe has
been deprived of the basic rights to participate in the important administrative right. When the
world has progressed significantly admitting that gender equality should prevail, in that scenario
this type of attitude of the governments of the MENA region countries is unacceptable (Saviano
et al. 2017). It has been seen that in the last 5 years numerous policies were amended for the
educational and training and developmental programs for the young women population of
MENA region. It can be said that this effort of the government of the respective countries did not
gone in vein and there has been a significant improvement in the situation. Though there is lot of
areas of improvement but it can be said that the government officials need to have a bit more
serious approach to the situation (Garcia 2017). A survey conducted by the governments of the
nation under MENA region exhibited that the gender gap in the job market has got reduced by 5
to 7 percent in the last couple of years and that is definitely a good sign (Bahramitash and
Esfahani 2016). It has been observed that the young women of the MENA region are realizing
the importance of self dependency and education. Due to extensive campaigning performed by
the governments of those countries the awareness regarding this issue among the young women
population got increased massively and the males also understanding the importance of
promoting education for women (Avis 2017). This can be looked at as a huge achievement for
the governments and for the humankind. In this regard, it is worthwhile to mention the fact that
when the young women population of that particular region will join the labor force, it can
effectively give a boost to the human resources of the respective nations and will definitely give

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a boost to the economy of those nations (Kabeer 2016). With increased educational qualification
in the human resources of the country, the government and the private sector of those countries
will experience a significant rise in the productivity which can play a vital role behind the
success of those nations to achieve a human resource where there is no gender gap.
Job opportunities in MENA region
It has been observed that in the MENA countries the job opportunities for educated
women are significantly lower than any parts of the world and that is due to the lesser exposure
and lesser developmental growth in those countries (Garcia 2017). In today’s world, when the
world is getting globalized and with the advancement of technology, communication is
becoming easier to establish, the attitude of the public and private sectors of the MENA region
are not up to the mark. It has been estimated that by the year of 2030, the percentage of educated
women in the human resources of MENA region will increase up to 20% due to extensive
campaigns and increased awareness of the people residing in that particular region; but if
adequate job opportunities are not given to the young women population, the improvement of the
situation will not be possible or viable. It has been estimated that in order to improve the
situation, the administrators of the public and private sectors should effectively take action to
increase the job opportunities( Naila. 2016). It has been seen that if the education sector and the
technological sector increases job opportunities, that can significantly improve the situation of
the economic condition of the countries under the MENA region (Garcia 2017).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be said that in today’s world when the world is progressing rapidly with the
increased awareness regarding the rights of the women population, it has been disappointing that
the governments of the countries under MENA region did not realize the fact on time and that

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caused the sufferance of the young women population of that region. It can be said that the
governments of the countries of MENA region should invest a fortune to steer the condition to a
productive phase. In this regard it is worthwhile to mention that the administrators of both the
public and private sectors should proactively participate in improving the situation by increasing
the job opportunities. It is a matter of fact that if the human resources of the MENA region
acquires additional professional skills receiving proper education and attending numerous
training and developmental workshops and programs introduced by both the governments and
the administrators of the business industry, it can effectively improve the job opportunities as
looking at the skilled labor force many foreign companies will expand their businesses in the
countries of MENA region and then only the situation will change. It has been observed that
though the awareness regarding women education and women’s right to take part in important
sectors like business and administration has increased in the last decade but still there are more
areas of improvement and the governments of those countries should take come forward with
more ideas that can be materialized. Therefore, to conclude, it can be said that the matter of
women empowerment should not be looked at with reluctance as the gender gap in the labor
force of the countries under MENA region is significantly affecting the economic condition of
those countries which is not at all desired and the women population of that region is getting
deprived of their rights which is unacceptable.

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