Is Common Sense Really That Common? UN Women Regional Director for the Arab States’ Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen Explores The Curious Case Of The Gender Pay Gap

To mark Equal Pay Day on September 18, she shares why it’s so crucial to show support for this fundamentally fair expectation

Some things just don’t make any rational sense. You look at it from the left, right, from above and below and yet whatever angle you take, there is still an oddity that can’t be explained. Like if two people contribute equally to the same job, in the same environment and at the same time, and yet one receives a significantly lower salary. That’s what’s happening to half of the global population. And that’s exactly what’s going to continue happening until the year 2157 if no robust action is taken, because it is estimated that with the current rate of progress it will take 136 years to close the global gender pay gap, and in the Arab region alone it will take 157 years. The UAE has a vision for a settlement on Mars by 2117, so while humans may land on Mars, explore the universe and succeed in understanding highly sophisticated data from the Martian atmosphere, we would still be burdened with an irrational and unfair way of valuing labour.

From the outset, women have been instrumental in expanding space exploration. The first mission to Mars by an Arab state was conducted by the UAE earlier this year, with women comprising 80 per cent of that extraordinary scientific team. It’s no coincidence that a number of progressive developments in our region are led by women. Arab States have invested in narrowing the gender gap in other areas, such as education and healthcare, that are critical in paving the way to transformative achievements. However, this region still has the world’s lowest female labour force participation rate, estimated at just 18.4 per cent.

So equal pay for equal work is not just about the pay check; it’s really more about attracting and retaining women in the labour force, about valuing the contribution of women and men equally, and about leveraging women’s expertise and talents in all fields to speed national and regional development. Equal pay for equal work is about ensuring that career slowdowns due to raising children and caring for aging relatives, do not lead to financial cliffs in retirement. Most importantly, equal pay is about recognising that women and men enjoy equal rights.

But rights can only be claimed if there are laws in place to protect them and that is why governments all over the Arab region have enacted laws that guarantee women’s right to equal pay for the same work as men. In 2019, Jordan became the first country in our region to join the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), a global forum to mobilise stakeholders to reduce the gender pay gap. Jordan has worked to identify the root causes of the gender wage gap, build national capacities for reforms, and promote equal pay for work of equal value through minimum wages. In the UAE, the Law on Equal Wages and Salaries for Men and Women has been an important step forward, while Qatar’s adoption of Law No. 15 on Service Workers in the Home, and Saudi Arabia’s work on developing a national policy for Equality in Employment are also contributing to the regional dialogue to address the gender pay gap.

Given the UAE’s vision for settlement on Mars by 2117, we know for sure that many notable women working as scientists and astronauts will bring that vision to reality. It would certainly make no sense not to have closed the gender pay gap long before that settlement takes place.

Join the conversation and find out more about how we can uphold women’s rights for equal pay by using the hashtag #EqualPayDay, which takes place on the 18th September.

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s September 2021 issue