Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Women in Business in the Middle East

Here's a "good news" story:

According to a survey by the World Bank, 13percent of companies in the Middle east are owned by women.

From a report in Gulf News:
"Pointing to the findings of a recent Bank report, [Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank] said, "While only 13 per cent of firms or companies in the Middle East are owned by women, there is no significant difference in terms of size, age, sector, exports, and foreign direct investment to those firms owned by men."

Representatives from both the public and private sector discussed the means to optimise the contribution of Arab women in the development of the region during the first US-based conference of the Arab International Women's Forum (AIWF), hosted by the World Bank Middle East North Africa in the US capital Washington DC recently.

Women entrepreneurs from the Middle East also gathered during the two-day conference to hear ministers including Dr Sharifa Khalfan Al Yahyai, Minister of Social Development in Oman, Hala Bseisu Lattouf, Minister of Social Development in Jordan, and Dr Huda Ali Al Ban, Minister of Human Rights in Yemen, talk about the gains women have made in the region."


I would be very interested in the World Bank statistics for companies owned by women in other areas around the globe.


Edit: I did find a link on Doing Business Blog - Women in Business category - which might prove good reading.



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