Mind The (Pay) Gap: Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen On What The Arab Region is Doing Right In The Fight For Equal Pay
Ahead of International Equal Pay Day on 18th September, the UN Women Regional Director for the Arab States and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia columnist, reflects on how the region has made steps to diminish the gender pay gap over the previous year
Earlier today a ‘memory’ photo appeared on my phone with nothing but good intentions; to stir a pleasant sentiment. While phone-developers tucked in a sunny corner of Silicon Valley surely had the prompting of positive emotions in mind when they developed the ‘memory-feature’, we all know that not all memories evoke a flowing cloud of silky joy. At times, cement blocks of pounding pain or pouring anger, will derive from unannounced trips down memory lane. The professional equivalence of these photographic reminders is less dramatic. It would be the accidental or deliberate opening of a document created a year ago. Yet the same way the colours, faces and backgrounds of a photo evoke spirals of thoughts, the very letters of a document and the words they cooperatively create, will take you to a time and place, either good or bad, as we realise that we have either progressed, regressed or stubbornly stood still. And exactly one year ago, a column I wrote for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia focused on equal pay. In that column I shared with you my frustrations around the fact that if we do not speed up the process on guaranteeing equal pay it would take the Arab Region more than 150 years to close the gender pay gap.
For some, equal pay might come as an extra-curricula; something we deal with when more fundamental rights of women are addressed: living a life free from violence, equal access to education, employment and retention, equal political participation, just to name a few. I see clearly where that school of thought is coming from. I know first-hand – after decades of working in the field of humanitarian assistance – the necessity of prioritising; first and foremost, based on what people themselves -– in this case women – determine as main priorities. Yet what makes equal pay climb the ladder of priorities for many women, is that it’s essentially about equality. And the past year has of course seen progression, stagnation and regression in the domain of women’s rights globally and regionally, essentially threatening equality.
“What makes the gender pay gap climb the ladder of priorities for many women is that it’s essentially about equality.”
Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen
But zooming in on progress, there are exciting examples from the Arab States that need to be acknowledged and that all directly or indirectly tackle the equality of women and men in the workplace. Bahrain has made significant improvement in the Pay indicator, raising its score from 0 to 100 in the past two years, by lifting restrictions on women working in certain industries or at night and introducing amendments mandating equal remuneration for work of equal value. In 2021, the Central Bank of Egypt issued a circular to facilitate women’s access to credit without gender discrimination, part of a regional trend with similar interventions rolled out in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (2020) Bahrain, and Jordan in 2021. In Kuwait and Lebanon, new regulations address sexual harassment in the workplace. Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia are all members of the Equal Pay International Coalition, with a commitment to achieving equal pay for women and men. We know that gender equality in the workplace is a critical condition for equal pay. To date, more than 375 private sector companies in the Arab Region have signed onto the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), with the support of UN Women.
So when I re-read my column, written exactly one year ago on equal pay, it evokes different reflections but the main sentiment: hope and a sense of gratifying encouragement about the direction we are moving in this particular domain. And as for that photo; a handful of women in a busy down-town café. They’ve known each other since childhood, standing by each other through the good and the bad. Friends, no matter what. That is another thing I am grateful for.
Lead image supplied
Written by Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia September 2022 issue