Sunday 22 / September / 2024
Most Omani women working in the country feel that their professional contributions in the workplaces are not appreciated and they think that men get more rewarded for doing much less.
They say, in a male dominated society, they are overlooked and at the same underrepresented. The statistics in the country prove they are right. There are very few women serving as senior managers in corporate companies. Actually, statistics show that only 12 percent of them are in the high-ranking management team compared to men who are occupying most of these positions.
Preciously few women work in the positions of Chief Executive Officers and even fewer in the roles of Board of Directors. Interesting enough, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this week announced that it is compulsory for corporate companies to have at least one woman serving as a Board of Director.
Another interesting thing is that women are a slight majority making 53 percent of the total population of Omanis in the Sultanate. The population statisticians in the local hospitals also predict that in the next decade the gap between Omani women and men will stretch even further. Why? Because there are more baby girls being born than boys in the last five years.
The second interesting statistics is on the business front. Almost all of the retailers I have been talking to across the country say that their businesses are widely supported by women. That means the ladies are the majority shoppers keeping going the economy of the retail sector afloat in these hard times. But it is not ending here. In higher education, female graduates outnumber male graduates by a whopping 30 percent, according to official statistics.
The vast majority of women work in the office backrooms, doing exactly what they have been doing for years. So why are women still being sidelined professionally when their contribution and track record support them? Can we really blame the local culture or tradition when men put a plug on women’s career progress? I hear some men say that ‘family comes first’ and women need to be at home to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Professional women defend that they can juggle between the demands of careers and home management, including raising successful children. So tradition or culture does not interfere with women’s progress at work. They always manage to walk on the delicate tight rope that separate careers and home. In the age of digital offices, many men are now given the opportunities to work remotely. So why doesn’t it apply for women when they have to balance between families and careers?
In conclusion, to segregate women in workplaces is going against gender equality. It goes without saying that equal opportunities are important for the progress of any country. If women feel they are left out when it comes to career progression, then we are not using the full manpower resources available in the market. It is plain hypocrisy when one professional law applies for men and the other for women. Barriers erected by men must be removed that restrict women in offices to give our economy the chance it needs to make real progress.
