Over the past decades, Arab women have seen immense progress in terms of education and participation in politics, and have made tremendous forays into the business world. The average literacy rate for women in the MENA region rose from 16.6% in 1970 to 52.5% in 2000. Since 1980, girls’ tertiary (university) education has doubled so that now 14% of young women go to university (compared to 20% of young men). On the other hand, female participation in the MENA labor force stands at a measly 32%, the lowest among all developed countries, on top of which the vast majority of women are working in the public sector.
The World Bank estimates that the MENA private sector is still significantly prejudiced against women, resulting in the bizarre situation that the best-educated women have the biggest problems getting hired. There is still a perception that women take away men’s jobs. Statistics, however, actually show a negative correlation between unemployment and women’s participation in labor. The World Bank calculated that had the MENA region used its female labor potential, the average per capita income could have risen by 2.6% during the 1990s, instead of the actual 1.9%.
With this month seeing the publication of a World Bank report on women entrepreneurs in the MENA region, Executive interviewed six Arab women — all highly educated, ambitious, driven, and persistent and all successful in their careers, some having salaried jobs in companies and others entrepreneurs — on the issue of women in business.
When in summer 1997 Nada Safa, having just finished her college degree in Economics at the Université St. Joseph in Beirut, inquired about a job opportunity at a leading Lebanese finance house, she was told “This is a man’s world. You are young and you have no experience, so I don’t think there is a place for you here.”
Determined to realize her childhood dream, one month later Nada arranged a second interview with another manager. She outlined a simple financial deal: she would work for free for a while and then, if they wanted, they could decide to give her a contract. “I told him it was an investment because I would be working for free during the summer. No risk. Zero capital. They might have a return, or they might not, but they had nothing to lose. I worked for a month for free and then they told me ‘You’re in.’”
Today, at 31, Nada Safa is a regional manager at Banque Audi Saradar Private Bank, one of Lebanon’s two biggest banks. And while she stresses that her difficulties in being accepted among her peers have mainly to do with her age, she nevertheless agrees that her gender does play a role.
Regional Specificities
Sahar al-Sallab, Vice-Chair and Managing Director of the Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt’s third largest bank, says that when she entered the banking sector in the mid-1970s it was normal for Egyptian women to work, not just in banks but throughout the economy. Her employers — first Citi Bank and since 1982, Chase Manhattan Egypt (which later transformed into CIB) — gave her the professional opportunities to gain experience, prove herself, and rise in the ranks. CIB now has a female vice-chair, 70% of senior management positions are occupied by women, over 60% of the staff is female and a quarter of the current Board of Directors are women — more than double the S&P 500 average. As Al-Sallab puts it, “In Egypt, woman have been in banking, in law, in other areas for a long time and their participation is much higher than in other places in the region or even in Europe.”
Contrast that with the situation in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. The tale of Nahed Taher’s groundbreaking career in the Saudi finance system is well-known: Coming from a family of bankers and oil managers, and having written her Ph.D. thesis in the UK on the deficiencies of the Saudi banking system, she first became a financial consultant and then the first female chief economist at the National Commercial (Al-Ahli) Bank, which at the time covered a quarter of the Saudi banking sector, before, at age 42, she founded her own business — Gulf One Investment Bank, with a capital base of $1 billion — in 2006.
This is certainly a very impressive career, but at each step she had to convince her peers that she could do it. Some of her fears proved to be entirely unfounded, as Al-Ahli’s general manager and chairman supported her, and the predicted interference from the government and religious establishment never materialized, yet it was never clear if and when a backlash could occur and Nahed Taher was always aware of the fact that she was breaking new ground. She attributes the support she received to both the fact that Al-Ahli is headquartered in Saudi Arabia’s more cosmopolitan Western Region and that today, Saudi government officials are well-educated. As she says, “I’ve never received any single comment. I was the first woman to enter the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance — but nobody commented.”
For 30-year-old Dalal al-Dousari the choice of a career in the financial sector was easy — in Kuwait it was either that or going into the oil industry. Ultimately she chose finance because, “It is the decision-making field. You take everything from the other fields and then make the decisions. At the end of the day you’ll be able to be the decision-maker.”
According to her, some companies are open-minded and actively seek to employ women. One of her former bosses told her that he wanted women in his company because he believes that women are more precise and more faithful to their companies than men. And certainly, in Kuwait there have been female pioneers — just like Nahed Taher in neighboring Saudi Arabia — such as Maha al-Ghunaim of Global Investment House (“She sets the standard,” says Al-Dousari) and Sheikha Al-Bahar at the National Bank of Kuwait. But there is still much to be done and women do face discrimination at the workplace. According to Al-Dousari, “Decision-makers prefer men in certain positions to women. They say that men are more flexible, can travel on short notice, can do late meetings, that women will get married and then get pregnant and committed to their family, and then their children get sick … So they keep that in mind when they decide about whom to put into certain positions. Women have to work to prove that they are flexible, that they can do a good job. They have to put in an effort that is at least double that of their male peers.”
But even in everyday business they are faced with peculiar challenges resulting purely from the fact that they are women. At one point Dalal al-Dousari, now Vice-President for Investment at Amwal International Investment, was managing a multi-million dollar portfolio for an Islamic institution. She did all the work, devised the project, developed the strategy, and prepared the brief, only to learn that the client refused to let her do the presentation because she is a woman, although even after the presentation she would be managing the portfolio.
“So imagine, I had to give my brain to a man, who doesn’t know anything about the project, and to tell him what to say, how to present, what sort of questions to expect and how to answer them — and he went to give the presentation. My bosses apologized and explained that the client had made the demands but I think they should’ve insisted on sending me or not done the project. But the outcome will be that everyone will think that the presentation was my male colleague’s work, because nobody knows that it was my work.” Another time she had to hand
Financing for Arab businesswomen in 5 countries (World Bank) a project to a male colleague because it involved traveling to Saudi Arabia, which meant that, again, she had lost a great professional opportunity. And, as she says, this will certainly influence the senior managers’ decisions when it comes to promotions.
For Lina Hundaileh, a Jordanian entrepreneur who founded and manages Philadelphia Chocolate Manufacturing Company, since she runs her own business the obstacles she faces because of her gender may be different from those encountered by the Kuwaiti banker, but they still exist. On the one hand, she says that there are instances where business meetings are held in exclusively male spheres — like the Qat-chewing majaalis in Yemen that are strictly off-limits to women — or done over after-hour drinks at the bar, where a woman might feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, despite speeches and grand announcements by the political leadership to empower women, she says they are often nothing but kalaam faadi (empty rhetoric) and when it comes to such issues like electing women to offices the traditions persevere. When she wanted to be elected to the Chamber of Industry, Lina Hundaileh stood a good chance of wining the election because by then she had established a good reputation and a wide network. But she had not counted on the resistance of her male peers.
“Businessmen came to my house and wanted to convince me to withdraw. And I accepted to withdraw because they did it in the Arab way — they didn’t drink the coffee of my father and brother-in-law until I withdrew. And now they are blaming themselves because I could’ve added value.” Thus, even a woman’s long-term success in business does not automatically translate into true acceptance. She adds, “It’s easier to implement decisions in my company since I am the boss, but when I go outside my environment, outside my comfort-zone, I will again face obstacles. Where people don’t know me, I again need to prove myself.”
The two Lebanese women interviewed show that there are extremes even within one country. Where Nada Safa had to work for free to prove that she was good (and determined) enough, and then worked her way up — back office, analyst, front office, trader — to arrive at a level where she is respected and could choose in which institution to continue her career, Rula Abu Daher had the luck to be hired by MTC Touch, one of Lebanon’s two GSM operators, whose CEO believes that women, when given a chance, can do as well as men. After her university degree in Engineering (a major chosen because she had heard that there were few women and sought the challenge) she joined MTC Touch and, after a year of training, was promoted to CTO, the only female chief technical officer in a GSM company within the region. As she put it, it was a meeting of similar characters. “I already had a sense of independence and I happened to join a company that does not do any gender discrimination. Half of the management are women. MTC is an exception.”
About that ‘glass ceiling’
Despite the regional variations, based on different historical experiences and developments, all interviewees agree that there is a glass ceiling when it comes to women’s careers. In a country with a long tradition of women in business, the ceiling is very high, as Sahar al-Sallab confirms, “In Egypt, I don’t think there is a glass ceiling on the medium-level management, but there is one on the senior, the chairman level.” In Jordan, according to Lina Hundaileh, “in the high-ranking businesses, you don’t see women.” Dalal al-Dousari, pointing at old-boys-networks in the region, even says that “It’s not a glass ceiling — it’s a concrete ceiling.” Some companies, like Rula Abu Daher’s MTC Touch, are notable exceptions, since there are led by visionary CEOs who’s maxim is “The sky is NOT the limit.”
Of course, one should not forget that a ‘glass ceiling’ for female employees is not a particularly region-specific issue. Nahed Taher points towards the relative situation of women in the Middle East compared to other regions when she says, “Definitely there is a ‘glass ceiling.’ But relative to the global banking industry it is everywhere. In the UK there is no female CEO banker. In the future, the support will be there. But women will need more experience. Right now they don’t have it yet.”
Must women work harder to succeed?
The often-cited argument that women have to work harder than their male peers in order to be recognized as competent professionals is not echoed by all. Nahed Taher thinks that “it might have existed when I was younger, but now they know me.” Nada Safa did have to prove herself more than others, but she puts it down to her young age, not her gender. However, both Lina Hundaileh and Dalal al-Dousari think that women have to work twice as hard to prove that they are as flexible, as good at their jobs as their male colleagues.
The main challenge is the widespread perception that women’s family responsibilities are preventing them from giving their jobs full attention. Indeed, in the framework of a World Bank report Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa: Characteristics, Contributions and Challenges, to be released this month, businesswomen from across the region identified the work/family balance as the most challenging issue they face.
Sahar al-Sallab, too, had to balance her family with her work when she was sent for training to Europe: “My company didn’t treat me as a woman — they treated me as a person. But that meant that they didn’t accommodate the fact that I had children, so I had to exert more effort, and also incurred more expenses, in order to take them with me.” The World Bank report notes that other challenges for women entrepreneurs are learning financial management skills, finding and keeping good employees, access to capital and the high cost of public services. However, throughout the region female and male entrepreneurs face difficulties to access capital, as banks in the MENA region are generally not geared towards financing small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). The report adds that, “the situation may be
Types of financing used by businesswomen in 5 countries during 2006 (World Bank) exacerbated for women-owned SMEs, due to lower availability of collaterable assets, gender bias among lending institutions, and a lower level of financial management education among women entrepreneurs.”
Character type ‘successful woman’
Within the particular environment of the MENA region, where women still need to struggle to establish themselves in the business world and to convince their peers as well as society that they are as good (or even better) than men, it seems to take a certain kind of woman to succeed: goal-oriented, driven to excel, impervious to obstacles and, yes, stubborn. Says Nada Safa, “I knew what I wanted to do since I was 13 years old, and I went for it. If I had doubted, I wouldn’t be here today. But even now, I always consider I haven’t achieved anything — I’m not satisfied.” Lina Hundaileh avers that, “There was nothing in my dictionary that would say that I could fail. I only saw success at the end of the road. Ambition and working hard helped me to convince my business partners. And even now I continuously learn to stay up-to-date.”
When Rula Abu Daher became CTO of MTC Touch, “many people thought that I would fail, would give up after a few months because I would not be able to deal with the responsibility and the non-acceptance. But I did not give up — I persisted. The fact that I wanted to prove myself as a female might’ve pushed me more than it would a male in my position. So there was this inner motive that pushed me to keep proving myself.” Of course, this mirrors the experience of women in the business world all over the globe, and is not restricted to or special to the MENA region.
Despite the individual strength necessary to succeed, family support remains crucial since, as Nahed Taher puts it, “if there had not been the strong support from my family, I may still have embarked upon my career but not reached the results.” Most of the other women also received support from their families and attribute their success to the fact that their parents encouraged them to follow their dreams, chose the college majors they wanted, and ultimately provided a comfort zone during their professional careers. But “going against all odds” can be a strong motivation, too. After Nada Safa’s father died when she was still a teenager, the family had to struggle and this instilled in her a strong motivation to “make it from zero all the way up. I had to prove yourself. I had to rely on myself. For me it was unacceptable to fail because I couldn’t afford to fail.”
Not surprisingly then, their recommendations to other young women who espouse careers in business and finance read like quotes from self-help books: “Nothing is impossible.” “Follow your dream.” “Believe in yourself.” “To really achieve anything you have to start by yourself.” But then, their male peers — in the region and anywhere else — give (and get) the same advice, with one exception. “You have to create a momentum at home whereby you get a career, whereby you gain financial independence,” is Sahar al-Sallab’s advice to Egyptian girls. Yet in that, too, there is no ‘cultural gap’ between East and West.
Becoming male?
One thing that all women interviewed resent is the idea that, in order to succeed in business, women have to give up their femininity. Rula Abu Daher insists that she is “keeping the feminine side in me – the way I dress, talk, do my hair. You want to do this proving you can do it by being a woman, not by becoming a man.” Nada Safa, like the others, insists that women are different from men and that there is no point trying to mask that. “I dress appropriately, but feminine.” Making male colleagues learn to understand that a successful woman doesn’t become a ‘buddy’ can even have implications outside the workspace, as Dalal al-Dousari observed. “One can be feminine and be professional at the same time. One still can be a lady while wearing a business suit. I still insist that my colleagues treat me as a woman and open the doors for me. I’ve trained my colleagues and it is getting better. And it even has an impact how they treat their wives at home!”
Foreign Perception
Often, Arab businesswomen not only have to deal with prejudices at home but also while traveling abroad. When Lina Hundaileh went to the United States, “they didn’t believe we have really successful businesswomen in the region. They looked at us as being Arab, Muslim … and I was frustrated.” Egyptian banker Sahar al-Sallab concurs, “In the West I always get perceived not just as a banker but also as an Arab, Muslim woman. They ask me how I got into this position, how my country let me go into this position.”
Apart from the cultural prejudices businesswomen also have to deal with global stereotypes towards women in general. Rula Abu Daher made the experience that, “Abroad, they don’t expect a woman to be a technical officer. 3% of world senior positions are occupied by females — so it’s a world-wide issue. Many times when I met people, they always thought I am in marketing or a sales-person, not a technical person.”
And then Arab businesswomen, especially those in high-ranking positions, are also treated as exotica to be showcased. When Dalal al-Dousari attended the May 2007 World Economic Forum in Jordan she received a slew of meeting requests, many more than her male, and senior, colleagues. TV stations asked to talk to her, CNBC even exclaiming “Finally we have a woman to interview!”
However, this situation quickly shifts, once business meetings start and it becomes clear that those ‘exotic women’ know what they are talking about. As Nahed Taher says, “At the beginning they treat me as a ‘Saudi woman’ … but when they see me and I discuss business then it changes. And Forbes ranked me based on my competence and not because I’m Arab.” Or as Nada Safa succinctly puts it: “In meetings, nobody looks at me as an Arab woman or a Muslim. When you start talking money, they forget the woman or the Arab in the business.”
Positive change over time
Over the past years there has been marked change, even if — according to the interviewed women — it is still too slow. “When a woman is well-placed and has her position in society and her career she can do very well — they are seen differently now than 10 years ago,” says Nada Safa. Nahed Taher agrees and points to a changing economic situation in KSA. “There are two major factors: Women are now more educated. There is an economic need. During the Oil Boom in the 1970s women didn’t feel the need, because they all had money. Now, as life becomes more expensive, women want to be part of supporting their family. The sector is definitely reacting to that. Now opportunities are better: they are looking for qualified people, regardless if they’re men or women. Women proved their professionalism, their productivity, their commitment — also in industrial sector, even into the managerial levels.”
Sahar al-Sallab says about Egypt that, “It needs an intelligent man, a confident man to make a woman rise up the scale and give her the chance even to be better than him on the scale. So if they’re intelligent enough, they will accept it. And they are now accepting it in Egypt. Most of the compliments I get are from men. They believe and want women to be leaders in their own domain.” When, a few months ago, Rula Abu Daher was named ICT Woman of the Year, she says it radiated outward and “made other companies also think about appointing women to manager positions. I hope my experience can serve for others to succeed.” And indeed, the businesswomen are keen on not remaining alone. Says Nahed Taher, “It is my goal to be a pathbreaker and have other women following. If it was only me, then I would not have achieved anything.”
Who drives change?
Asked about how the change should be effected, the interviewees say that women themselves are driving it. As Nada Safa put it, “women are no longer saying they should stay at home and have children, because they can do all those things and work and stay a woman. We can do many things at the same time, it’s natural — we were born like this.” Indeed, many interviewees argue that women are naturally predisposed to succeed in business. Thus, Nahed Taher argues that, “The majority of women have proven to be the best for entrepreneurship — worldwide. Two major factors are in the nature of woman: She is patient to raise a family, to wait for things to grow. Also, a woman by nature likes to educate. So they educate their colleagues. Men, by nature, don’t have this patience.” Sahar al-Sallab goes as far as to say that women have the natural skills to be better managers than men, since “Women are more stable, because they have more compassion and are more sensitive. They can manage better. They are less ego-centric. They are more accommodating, making their male colleagues and subordinates think that most ideas come from them, and not from the female colleague or boss. It is an advantage that women have, if they use it.”
Lina Hundaileh sees that professional organizations, like Jordan’s Young Entrepreneurs Organization that she heads, offer crucial help to women who want to set up their own businesses. “We mentor them, we incubate their businesses. This makes it easier for young businesswomen.” Nahed Taher notices that, now that she and other women have opened the doors, young women are more encouraged to follow in their wake. Sahar al-Sallab even thinks that precisely the lack of opportunities for women in the region, compared to those for women in the West, motivates Arab women not to be complacent and to fight harder for what they want.
However, it is by no means clear if the example of these women is followed on a large scale, or if role models like Nahed Taher and Sahar al-Sallab will not remain exceptions to the rule. In a talk given at an Oxford conference on “Women of the Arab World: Setting their Agenda” in February 2007, Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi, UAE Minister of Economy, pointed out that, while in UAE women now hold 30% of management positions, 32% of employees in the finance and banking sector are women, and 15% of all professors are Emirati women, this empowerment did not occur because the women themselves had driven the change and claimed their rights. Instead, it had been the government that pushed the women. Lina Hundaileh also calls for the politicians to — finally — implement their lofty promises into realities on the ground, in order to change the awareness of society — both among men and women. Sahar al-Sallab, hinting at economic incentives as agents of change, points out that, “There is a new challenge in that there are now certifications for institutions based on their gender policy, which — if achieved — would upgrade the institution.” She is referring to the ISO 9000:2000 standard that, according to the official website (www.gendercertification.com) aims “to provide tools for creating an enterprise culture where Equality is considered a quality factor integrated in organizational management.”
There are already many executives who realize that women can work as well as men can, and the women interviewed all benefited from such superiors, and unprejudiced fathers and husbands. In the end, it will take a combination of visionary executives, pragmatic government policies and women’s self-motivation to effect significant, lasting change.
