Publication: Breaking Barriers: Understanding and Addressing Social Norm Constraints to Women’s Work in the Middle East and North Africa
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2025-06-24
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2025-06-24
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This policy brief uses data from those efforts to document the role social norms play to support (or hinder) female labor force participation in a sample of MENA countries. Data was collected in Egypt, the Republic of Iraq, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia between 2018 and 2024 covering beliefs and social expectations of men and women across a range of FLFP-related norms. Results discuss which social norms are more or less supportive of FLFP and how strongly they predict women’s labor market outcomes, where misperceived norms may be influencing behavior, and how these beliefs and expectations vary across different demographic groups, including at the intrahousehold level.
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“World Bank. 2025. Breaking Barriers: Understanding and Addressing Social Norm Constraints to Women’s Work in the Middle East and North Africa. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43370 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Breaking the Barriers to Higher Economic Growth : Better Governance and Deeper Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007)Contents of the report are as follows: Long-term economic development: challenges and prospects for the Arab countries by Mustapha K. Nabli. Reform complementarities and economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa by Mustapha Kamel Nabli, and Marie-Ange Veganzones-Varoudakis. After Argentina: was MENA right to be cautious? By Mustapha K. Nabli. Restarting Arab economic reform by Mustapha K. Nabli. Democracy for better governance and higher economic growth in the MENA region? By Mustapha K. Nabli, and Carlos Silva-Jauregui. The political economy of industrial policy in the Middle East and North Africa by Mustapha K. Nabli, Jennifer Keller, Claudia Nassif, and Carlos Silva-Jauregui. The macroeconomics of labor market outcomes in MENA by Jennifer Keller, and Mustapha K. Nabli. 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It is not only in the protest squares that have seen women whose aspirations are changing rapidly but increasingly unmet. The worldwide average for the participation of women in the workforce is approximately 50 percent. In MENA, their participation is half that at 25 percent. Facing popular pressure to be more open and inclusive, some governments in the region are considering and implementing electoral and constitutional reforms to deepen democracy. These reforms present an opportunity to enhance economic, social, and political inclusion for all, including women, who make up half the population. However, the outlook remains uncertain. Finally, there are limited private sector and entrepreneurial prospects not only for jobs but also for those women who aspire to create and run a business. These constraints present multiple challenges for reform. Each country in MENA will, of course, confront these constraints in different contexts. 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It finds that the region has outperformed other world regions in terms of the main drivers of the U-shape hypothesis, including gross domestic product per capita, economic transformation away from the agricultural sector, female education, and fertility rates. These facts are consistent with nonparametric evidence that shows countries in the region are distributed over a U-shaped curve. However, parametric tests of the hypothesis point in a different direction. The region shows an inverted U-shape overall and great heterogeneity across countries and age cohorts that defies any law on the relation between gross domestic product and female participation rate. The explanation behind these findings may be economic and cultural. Jobless growth and the lack of growth in employment sectors such as manufacturing and services, which proved critical for female employment in other countries, weaken labor demand and strengthen the role of institutions that may discourage female participation, such as marriage, legislation, and gender norms.Publication Regional Gender Action Plan for the Middle East and North Africa Region, FY13-FY16(Washington, DC, 2013)The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is experiencing a time of momentous change. Some countries are in the midst of a profound political, economic, and demographic transition, others are striving to emerge from protracted conflict, yet others are experiencing internal tensions and rising demands for more citizen voice. This period of change and uncertainty presents challenges and opportunities, including with regard to gender issues. Yet some governments may not prioritize gender issues, while in others there could be a regression. 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