Dirty Dinar

Kuwaiti Woman’s Journey into Managing her Finances

Sharp rise in number of Kuwaiti working women

January 23rd, 2008 | Category: article, news, private sector, public sector, unemployment, women

Today’s Kuwait Times featured the article below. I didn’t realize that the number of women in the private sector was so low. Is it possible that only 5% of Kuwaiti women work in the private sector? I’m proud to be one of them but that percentage seems really low! I can’t help but think this is inaccurate. I know plenty of women who own their own businesses and work in the private sector.

KUWAIT: Kuwait is in the forefront of Arab countries in view of women’s participation in labor force by 42 per cent in line with 2006 statistics, an Arab economist said here yesterday.

The percentage of Kuwaiti women’s involvement in labor force is continuously on the increase, having recorded roughly 37 percent and 42 percent in 2003 and 2006 respectively, Riyad bin Jalili, an economist at the Arab Planning Institute (API), told a symposium on women and development in the Arab world.

Most working women, who are university graduates, are concentrated in the public sector by around 95 percent, he said. In spite of the high percentage of Kuwaiti women’s participation in labor force, leading state posts are often inaccessible to them, having stood up at merely six percent in 2004, Jalili added.

Kuwaiti working women’s diversified presence in the labor market is still meager if compared to other Arab countries, he said, arguing that the upward trend of women’s education has a limited impact on their diversified involvement in the labor market. They account for 45 percent in administrative professions, 24 percent in teaching and just four percent in medicine and science.

However, divorced women were more active than married ones in terms of economic activities in 2006, he said. Joblessness among Kuwaiti females and males hit 5.2 percent and 2.7 percent respectively in 2006, he added. — KUNA

Published Date: January 23, 2008 in the Kuwait Times

4 Comments so far

  1. Chirp January 24th, 2008 9:21 am

    Really nice blog!
    I also think that there is more than 5% women in the private sector. Most banks have a lot of women in them!!!
    I am also saving investing most of my salary for now. But i am not keeping track of what i spend the rest on, because I know that its not going to change, Food/gas/random splurge.

  2. Amu January 24th, 2008 10:53 am

    I hope we end up in the right direction to where ever it is going!

  3. Intlxpatr January 27th, 2008 12:53 pm

    I read that same article and found it confusing. Like is that 5% the percentage of all the Kuwaiti women with university degrees, or is it 5% of all working Kuwaiti women?

  4. Kuwaiti Woman January 28th, 2008 12:33 pm

    Chirp thank you for visiting! I’d be interested in a study showing how many women work in the bank sector and how many of them are in high ranking positions. I’ve noticed that the number of female branch managers has been increasing. Good luck investing your money!

    Amu amen!

    Intlxpatr now you’ve made me rethink the article (a good thing!). If I base it on the punctuation then 95% of women are in the public sector, meaning the remaining 5% are in the private sector. That’s how I read it at least ;)

Leave a reply