The document discusses the lack of women working in STEM fields in the GCC and reasons for this disparity. It notes that the majority of female nationals in GCC countries work in the public sector rather than private industries like STEM. Social and cultural norms encourage women to pursue more traditional careers instead of STEM. Early education also influences girls away from STEM by portraying women in non-technical roles. Low numbers of women in STEM can negatively impact economies by reducing the skilled labor pool. GCC countries need to address barriers to increase female enrollment and participation in STEM education and careers.

1. 100 MOST POWERFUL WOMEN
UAE..............................AED 30
SAUDI ARABIA............SAR 30
BAHRAIN..................... BHD 3
KUWAIT................... KWD 2.5
QATAR.........................QAR 30
OMAN..........................OMR 3
OTHERS...............................$8
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2014 ISSUE 2
CONVINCING
COUNSEL
WHY DIAMONDS
STILL DAZZLE
FAIRY GODMOTHER
OF FASHION
DISPLAY UNTIL SEPTEMBER 2014
MENA WOMEN OF
MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS:
WHO SAID
BUSINESS AND
PLEASURE
DON’T MIX?
THE FEMININE
FRONTLINE
THE QUEST TO UNEARTH THE TRUTH
HAS TAKEN CNN'S HALA GORANI ON
A JOURNEY OF DEFINING MOMENTS

2. 4 JULY - SEPTEMBER 2014
51
A Man’s World?
Wes Schwalje, Chief Operating Officer
at Tahseen Consulting, explores why
science, technology, engineering and
mathematics are failing to attract the
women of the GCC.
EDITED BY HANNAH STEWART
54
Secret Suppers
Clandestine supper society, The
Dinner Club by No. 57, founded by
entrepreneurs Buthaina Al Mazrui
and Noor Bani Hashim, is turning the
traditional supper club on its head.
BY JOANNE AL-SAMARAE
58
Aiding Change
Though it may be a business,
humanitarian aid also requires
compassion. This is where CEO of
International Humanitarian City,
Shaima Al Zarooni, really shines.
BY SUZANNE FENTON
62
Why Diamonds
Still Dazzle
As the diamond market steadily
grows, David Bennett, Chairman of
Sotheby’s Jewelry Department for
Europe and the Middle East, points to
an Arab appetite for diamonds.
EDITED BY HANNAH STEWART
66
All That Glitters
With her heart set in the glamor
and romance of the 1950s, Lynda
Kirby, founder of Audrey’s Cat,
has something for everyone in her
world of vintage.
BY SUZANNE FENTON
68
Wheels of Fortune
As women of the Middle
East take their positions in
the driving seat of luxury,
automobile dealer Carmudi
highlights the region’s top
four-wheeled wonders.
BY HANNAH STEWART
72
In the Driving Seat
Blessed with desert highways, mountain
passes and two F1 tracks, the Middle
East was made for driving. Now, Ian
Gorsuch, Regional Director, Middle
East & Africa at McLaren Automotive,
believes the region’s women are giving
men a run for their money.
BY SUZANNE FENTON
Contents
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K

3. 51JULY - SEPTEMBER 2014
A
s the GCC continues to embrace science, tech-
nology, engineering and mathematics (STEM),
women are being left behind. The high concen-
tration of female nationals in the public sector
results in little movement into the sciences. And, unless at-
titudes change, says Wes Schwalje, Chief
Operating Officer at specialized advisor
on strategic and organizational issues,
Tahseen Consulting, this will continue
to prevent GCC countries from realiz-
ing their full STEM potential.
Forbes Middle East: There is a distinct
lack of women working in the science,
technology, engineering, and math-
ematics (STEM) fields in the GCC.
Where are they working instead?
Wes Schwalje: The female labor force
in the GCC is generally employed in
fields such as public administration,
education, and social work. In many of
the GCC countries, it is not uncommon
to find 70% or more of the female labor
force concentrated in the public sector.
While the region’s male labor force is also heavily concen-
trated in the public sector, there has been a notable shift
towards employment in more diverse STEM fields within
the construction, transportation, petrochemicals, and ex-
tractive sectors.
FME: Why are there so few women working in STEM-
related fields?
WS: The structure of GCC educational systems, gender-bi-
ased academic offerings, and lack of female faculty serve
to dissuade women from enrolling in STEM programs and
subsequently entering technical employment fields.
Government and institutional decisions to offer select
programs to women fail to fully cover
STEM fields, and in many GCC nations,
women do not have adequate exposure
to STEM at a young age meaning they
don’t develop an interest. Instead, fe-
males are often encouraged to pursue
careers in fields such as humanities, so-
cial sciences, and education.
In addition, social and cultural
norms are highly influential in motivat-
ing the occupational choices of women
in GCC nations and limits the sectors in
which they desire to work.
Though a lack of women in STEM
is a global issue, there is a unique re-
gional challenge regarding societal and
labor market norms that presently push
women towards a very narrow selec-
tion of socially acceptable employment
fields in the public sector.
The success of females in accessing higher education
has to some degree masked the emerging regional challenge
of attracting women to STEM programs. Currently, many
women attending higher education receive degrees in fields
which are not consistent with regional economic ambitions
to grow technology and innovation-driven industries.
A Man’s World?
Wes Schwalje, Chief Operating Officer at Tahseen Consulting,
explains why science, technology, engineering and mathematics
are failing to attract the women of the GCC.
EDITED BY HANNAH STEWART
SOCIETY
Wes Schwalje

4. 52 JULY - SEPTEMBER 2014
FME: Do you believe that more attention from faculty ad-
visers might keep STEM women on the academic career
track?
WS: Within institutional faculty structures, female educa-
tors in the GCC tend to be concentrated at the lower end of
the academic pyramid. While more attention from faculty
advisers could potentially play an important role in increas-
ing female enrollment and employment in STEM fields,
research suggests that role models have the most powerful
impact on students’ academic success.
From this perspective, low numbers of female faculty
might perpetuate beliefs that women are not successful in
STEM fields. A major challenge in the GCC remains iden-
tifying and exposing young women to role models with
whom they can personally identify.
FME: What about early education? How significant is this
in shaping the relationship between women and STEM?
WS: Research on educational content in GCC nations has
found that textbooks may contain implicit biases that por-
tray women in administrative rather than technical posi-
tions. This research suggests that women throughout the
Arab region are predetermined to occupy different social
and economic roles than men, and part of this process oc-
curs in educational institutions at young ages.
Prior research has found that textbook content through-
out the region continues to portray women as family mem-
bers, while portraying men in their professions. The way
that women are portrayed in textbooks to children, even at
young ages, influences girls’ understandings of the appro-
priate future roles and paths available to them.
FME: What are the implications of low female presence in
STEM fields for societies and economies across the Arab
world?
WS: Increased female participation in STEM fields can in-
fluence changes in gender role attitudes and can broaden la-
bor market options for women. Low rates of female employ-
ment in STEM could have negative implications on regional
growth by depriving emerging knowledge-based industries
of highly skilled labor.
Although labor force participation among GCC females
remains among the lowest in the world, there is potential to
attract highly educated females into the labor market, and
high growth STEM fields in particular. Low rates of labor
market participation make it more difficult for women to
SOCIETY
SHUTTERSTOCK/ALEXANDERRATHS

5. 53JULY - SEPTEMBER 2014
enter the market, especially companies with few women,
many of which are STEM-related.
FME: What can GCC countries do to amend the disparity?
WS: Across the GCC, some STEM options are not open to
women, including many advanced engineering sub-disci-
plines critical to regional development. Addressing the sup-
ply of technical, vocational and educational training (TVET)
programs means not only increasing the number of options
available to women but also ensuring that institutions are fe-
male-friendly and offer high quality programs.
To increase the number of females studying in STEM
programs at the secondary and tertiary levels, GCC coun-
tries will have to address socio-cultural barriers to enroll-
ment. Addressing these obstacles will involve intervention
and policies aimed at students and parents that positively
influence persistent beliefs about the kinds of students who
attend TVET and the post-graduation opportunities avail-
able to women.
FME: Are there any signs to indicate positive change in the
MENA region, or perhaps examples of Arab women suc-
cessfully working in this field?
WS: There have been several positive regulatory and poli-
cy changes. Many of the GCC countries have made positive
amendments to labor laws to guarantee women receive equal
pay to men. Yet, females are still limited in terms of the fields
in which they can be employed and hours they can work by
some national labor laws.
The majority of the GCC countries have made signifi-
cant progress in creating national qualifications frameworks
which are important to changing opinions about STEM fields
as many people do not currently understand how particular
technical or vocational qualifications compare to academic
university degree level qualifications. The UAE’s National
Qualifications Authority is now leading regional efforts to-
wards a GCC-wide qualifications framework to increase stu-
dent mobility and qualification portability regionally.
FME: What advice would you give to young women inter-
ested in entering the STEM arena?
WS: Nowadays, emerging research suggests that STEM
qualifications, and particularly those qualifications which
can be earned through two-year technical and vocational
programs, are increasingly valued in regional labor mar-
kets. For example, evidence from Qatar shows that the rate
of return to technical education exceeds that of academic
higher education.
Young women interested in emerging STEM fields must
seek out information and form mentor relationships with
women in their industry of interest. Since career counseling
throughout the region tends to show a strong bias towards
academic education, young women will need to make these
connections themselves and develop an individual develop-
ment plan to examine their skills, interests, and values.
Country
Female Nationals
Employed in the
Public Sector (%)
Female Nationals
Employed in the
Private Sector (%)
Bahrain 50 50
Kuwait* 94 6
Oman 65 35
Qatar 88 12
Saudi Arabia 63 37
UAE 89 11
Sources: National Statistical Agencies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE
Note: *Some studies suggests that in 2010 79% of females worked in the
public sector. However, a definitive publically available data source is
not available.
Total Female Students Enrolled (%)
Major Kuwait UAE Qatar
Arts and Sciences 28 19 48
Education 27 3 4
Business and Economics 15 11 23
Law 9 3 6
Food and Agriculture 0 3 Data not
available
Engineering 17 7 15
Medicine and Health Sciences 3 2 4
Information Technology Data not
available
2 Data not
available
Source: National Statistical Agencies of Kuwait, UAE, and Qatar
Note: Data is presented only for countries which have publically
available statistics
Country
Labor Market
Participation
Male Nationals
(%)
Labor Market
Participation
Female Nationals
(%)
Bahrain 68 33
Kuwait 61 30
Oman* 45 20
Qatar 65 35
Saudi Arabia 63 16
UAE 58 20
OECD Average 69 51
Source: National Statistical Agencies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE
Notes: * Based on working population age 20 to 60 with the remaining
participation rates based on the working population aged 15 to 65.