The Doha International Family Institute (Difi), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, has concluded its first annual Family Policy Forum.
The two-day event, entitled, “Rethinking the Work-Family Reconciliation Policies in the GCC”, highlighted current opportunities and challenges in family and work policies in the region.
The inaugural forum, held in collaboration with the Executive Bureau of the GCC Council of Ministers of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, brought together representatives from across the GCC, renowned social researchers, and members of the public.
Participants examined how to effectively modify work-family reconciliation policies in the GCC within local economic, cultural and demographic contexts, and explored possible alternatives appropriate for countries within the region.
Noor al- Malki al-Jehani, executive director, Difi, said: “The forum has managed to define the factors that influence these policies, the most important of which include the imbalance of the demographic structure and the high cost of financing social policies due to absolute dependency on the state.”
“The participants have suggested some important recommendations, which we will seek to adopt in collaboration with the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs in Qatar and the Executive Bureau of the GCC Council of Ministers of Social Affairs.
“We hope that the recommendations will be implemented so as to help families and working women in the Gulf area,” she added.
Some of the most important recommendations include: re-evaluating current policies seeking to balance family and work responsibilities; unifying regulations concerning the arrangements for working mothers, particularly maternity leave; devising a national policy for each GCC state in order to address the challenges facing families; preparing a guideline book; encouraging relevant partnerships to finance different programmes seeking to balance family and work responsibilities; and reviewing policies to adopt best practices in early childhood care.
