(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
The subject of gender diversity is still an emerging one in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region where levels of engagement differ across countries, industries, and organization sizes; hence, many organizations may be missing out on significant growth potential derived from having a diverse workforce.
At 51 percent, Qatar has the highest percentage of women in the labour force, followed by Kuwait and Bahrain at 44 percent and 39 percent respectively, ending with Oman at 29 percent.
According to a recently released report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) entitled ‘How Organisations In The Middle East Can Stretch Their Diversity Spend', gender inequality creates an average global income loss of 13.5 percent, which can be divided into losses due to gaps in occupational choices and losses due to labor force participation gaps. This figure is the lowest in Europe (10 percent) and highest in the Middle East and North Africa (27 percent).Since 2000, almost all the GCC countries have experienced a significant improvement in women's participation in the labor force. Qatar, in particular, has increased from 38 percent to 51 percent between 2000 and 2014.
'To develop and empower the female leaders of tomorrow, CEOs and senior leaders should integrate gender diversity as a core part of the organization's strategic objectives and ensure organisation-wide communication and engagement. In particular, the commitment of middle management will be critical, as that is who engages every day with employees, and is responsible for performance assessments and promotions, said Dr Leila Hoteit (pictured), Partner and Managing Director at BCG Middle East.
Large organisations in the GCC have been particularly successful in implementing cutting-edge flexible schemes and arrangements for female employees. However, initiatives are successful only if they tackle the right issues and implement strategic plans that can sufficiently attract talented GCC women, such as the implementation of flexible working arrangements and inclusive policies.
In many GCC countries, cultural bias still exists, and women are perceived as unsuitable for some jobs or positions. Including gender diversity as a strategic objective, ensuring engagement of the senior leadership and the middle management, fostering retention of high-potential women, promoting development of women, advocating for women in leadership through positive promotion of role models and ensuring fairness and removal of conscious or unconscious biases are among some of the actions that can be taken to empower women leaders of tomorrow in GCC, the BCG report noted.
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