Gender issues and economic diversification in the GCC

Abstract EN

This paper examines how enhanced economic diversification will impact gender issues in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

It first highlights the region's historical and current economic diversification and gender issues.

A vector autoregression model is used to show that reducing the size of the oil sector in favor of the services sector should reduce gender inequality in GCC countries.

In addition, reducing foreign labor is also expected to positively effect national female employment rates.

However, this presupposes that, as part of the diversification efforts in the GCC, the reduction in foreign labor will be matched by investments in female education, as well as the relaxation of some social and political rules.

This will allow women greater access to economic resources and assume a greater role in the growth and diversification of the GCC countries.