By Western standards, the Middle East workplace has moved slowly in its acceptance of women in the traditionally male-dominated workplace. A recent survey conducted by Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj, “The Women in the Middle East Workplace,” monitored women’s perceptions of their work environment promotion potential, gender-specific benefits and salary satisfaction. Of the surveyed women, 60% felt that they were treated equal to their male co-workers while 23% reported inferior treatment and 7% reported superior treatment. Differences in perception were apparent among Western and Asian women as well as Arab women working in their home country. Dr. Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, director of the Institute for Women’s Studies at the Lebanese American University was not convinced that the study accurately reflected women’s perceptions of their work environment. “Often, when women are asked, ‘are you being discriminated against in the workplace?’ many will say, ‘no’ yet there is a big difference between perception and reality,”
