It’s now an established fact that gender equality and empowerment of women are key to ensuring faster and sustainable development. Denying women full participation in the economy is costly; a recent McKinsey & Co study has shown by how much. Full gender equality would add 26%, or $28tn, roughly matching the US and Chinese economies combined, to global gross domestic product in 2025, according to the report.
Qatar has made significant strides over the years to ensure women’s full participation in the wider economy. Qatar’s Permanent Constitution envisages a society based on justice, freedom and equal opportunities for all citizens with firm commitment to empowering women. The growth guidelines, including the Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV) and the National Development Strategy 2011-2016, target inclusive long-term growth.
While Qatar ranks high globally on human development, it scores low on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Qatar is the highest rated Gulf country on United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Index, but the country fares poorly in the Gender Inequality Index (GII) with a ranking of 114 out of 152 countries.
Even among Gulf countries, Qatar has a low GII standing, according to the Fourth National Human Development Report released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS). While female labour force participation in Qatar, high by GCC standards, has increased, it is still low compared with countries at similar high levels of economic and human development, the MDPS report said.
Qatar’s impressive progress in achieving gender equality, especially in education and health, has not been matched by commensurate progress in political empowerment. Qatari women have the right to participate and stand in local level municipal elections. In the four elections held to date, very few women have been put forward as candidates, but more than 40% of the voters in each election are women. The absence of women in the Shura Council also points to the need for the inclusion of women in political and decision-making processes, the MDPS report said.
Qatari women have made significant legal and social advancements since the 1990s. HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser has been an ardent advocate for women’s empowerment, supporting the creation of a cabinet-level position in the government to focus on women’s concerns. Development-oriented attitude towards women’s participation in the wider economy is also shaping up in Qatari society, according to a 2012 survey by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI). But challenges do remain to ensure women’s equal access to employment and political decision making, says HE the Minister of Development Planning and Statistics Dr Saleh Mohamed Salem al-Nabit in his forward to the MDPS report.
In the 20th anniversary of the UN’s declaration of a Platform of Action for women’s empowerment, here is the compelling economic case for investing in women: A $1 spend on improving women’s economic opportunities is estimated to add around $7 to the economy, mainly in health, poverty-alleviation and education benefits. And women tend to invest up to 90% of their earnings in their families, compared to 30%-40% contribution by men.
