Employers’ perception of women workers in Oman and the challenges they face
| Published date | 06 November 2017 |
| Date | 06 November 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2016-0183 |
| Pages | 1048-1065 |
| Author | Rakesh Belwal,Shweta Belwal |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Employers’perception of women
workers in Oman and the
challenges they face
Rakesh Belwal
Faculty of Business, Sohar University, Sohar, Oman and
University of Queensland Business School, University of Queensland,
Brisbane, Australia, and
Shweta Belwal
School of Management, Graphic Era University, Dehradun, India and
Faculty of Business, Sohar University, Sohar, Oman
Abstract
Purpose –The participation and productivity of women in Oman’s labor force are very low and heavily
skewed toward the government sector. There are few women in the private sector and the reasons for this are
not well-known. The challenges that women workers face specifically in the Arab World are worth
understanding from a participation and policy perspective. The purpose of this paper is to explore employers’
perceptions of women workers and the major challenges they face in Oman in the context of government
efforts to develop the female workforce in this Middle East region.
Design/methodology/approach –Data collected by interviewing the top executives (employers) from
28 organizations in two major cities in Oman were analyzed qualitatively, grouped into emerging themes,
triangulated, and discussed.
Findings –The results indicated that employers, in general, are impressed by women workers in Oman.
However, they identify a number of challenges women face. This study synthesized and grouped employers’
perceptions of these challenges in the following categories: women’s natural and physiological composition,
their attitude at work, post-marital challenges, socio-cultural barriers, nature and place of work,
organizational preparedness and governance, biases or prejudices of employers, and work-life balance (WLB)
issues facing them.
Practical implications –This study suggests that since female participation in the government sector in
Oman is substantial, women can also be attracted to work in the private sector if policies are formulated to
safeguard their interests.
Originality/value –There is an absolute dearth of studies about female participation in the Omani
workforce; this study is one of the pioneering efforts. Whereas the extant literature on WLB issues represents
mostly the western perspective, this study highlights the major WLB issues in Oman and fills some important
gaps between the West and the Middle East by focusing on women, WLB, and policies triangle.
Keywords Oman, Work-life balance, Challenges, Women workers, Employers’perception
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The participation and productivity of women in the formal labor force in the developed
world are documented. However, their representation in Oman’s labor force is dismally low,
given the background that Oman, an Islamic state in the Middle East, is strongly influenced
by the Arab culture (see Al-Hamadi et al., 2007 for specific details about Oman and its
human resource setup). Native women contribute a meager 6 percent of the total workforce
in Oman (NCSI, 2014). However, they represent approximately 40 percent of the natives
working in the government sector (NCSI, 2014). The point of concern is their employment in
Employee Relations
Vol. 39 No. 7, 2017
pp. 1048-1065
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-09-2016-0183
Received 23 September 2016
Revised 9 May 2017
31 May 2017
Accepted 31 May 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Open Research Grant No. ORG/EHR/15/002 from the Research
Council (TRC) of Oman, which was instrumental in conducting this research work. The authors also
acknowledge the SURGE Research Grant No. SURGE/2/RD1/2010-11 of Sohar University which
provided the initial base to the TRC grant.
1048
ER
39,7
the privatesector –which is only 2.6 percentof the total private sector workforceor 23 percent
of the total natives(NCSI, 2014); and underutilization of their labor hasa considerable impact
on economic welfare and growth (Psacharopoulos and Tzannatos, 1989).
Although this gap is gradually being bridged, women’semploymentisstillheavily
skewed toward the government sector (current ratio of private to public sectors is 36:64)
(NCSI, 2015a, b). Little is known about why there are so few women in the private sector.
Furthermore, a discussion of women’s work-life balance (WLB) issues is of strategic and
political importance to the region in general and Oman in particular. Facing the oil crisis,
rapid demographic changes, inadequate education systems and ineffective government
policies, the entire region has ventured into localization policies, which focus on
developing native human resources and replacing expatriates (Harry, 2007). Recent
graduate statistics of higher educational institutions (HEIs) reveal a surge in the number
of female enrollments in all the majors (HEIC, 2013, p. 62). Out of a total of 28,774 students
enrolled in the HEIs in the year 2012/2013, 16,189 were women (HEIC, 2013, p. 149). These
trends are indicative of the future workforce in Oman. The government sector is saturated;
in order to attract women to the private sector, the challenges facing them must be
analyzed. Additionally, women’s timely employment after graduation, the WLB issues,
andtheirstayinginthejobsremainsachallenge.Thus,turninganeducationintoa
full-time job for female graduates and dealing with the WLB issues simultaneously is a
matter of grave concern in Oman.
A few earlier studies connect this lack of participation to culture and religion,
particularly Islam (Bhalla and Kaur, 2011); however, some later studies rule out religion
but implicate regional and cultural forces. Although researchers consider Oman to be
integrating wome n into all facets of society, there are several challenges that need urgent
attention ( Jamali et al., 2010; Robbins et al., 2011; Shaibany, 2011; Budhwar and
Mellahi, 2016). Women’s roles, at home and in the workplace, force them to juggle between
personal and organizational pursuits and create obstacles for their work (Belwal and
Belwal, 2014). An analysis of these issues and the design of appropriate employment
policies should optimize the contribution of women to the economy. This study assesses
employers’perceptions of women workers and challenges facing them. The goal of this
study is to review the factors affecting women’s participation and challenges globally and
the viewpoint of managers in Oman. We preferred employers over women respondents
mainly to minimize the possible exaggeration of challenges and the influence of social
desirability, demand characteristics, and misattribution (Frese, 1985; Tyldum and
Brunovskis, 2005). Additionally, we felt that employers have an overarching perspective
of employment conditions.
Thechallengesaffectingthewomen’s workforce are less well-known than the
challenges facing women entrepreneurs. Whilst the relative influence of national factors
on HR issues is under-researched (Al-Hamadi et al., 2007; Budhwar and Mellahi, 2016),
the extant literature has focused mostly on women entrepreneurs and the challenges they
face (McElwee and Al-Riyami, 2003; Belwal et al., 2014). An understanding of these
challenges is crucial to increasing women’s participation in the private sector.
An understanding of the extent to which Oman shares commonly held beliefs and
whereitdifferswouldenrichtheexistingresearch, particularly in the context of the
Middle East, the Arab culture, and Islam. More specifically, this study aims: to assess
employers’perceptions of women workers in Oman; to identify and categorize the
issues affecting their participation, and to synthesize employers’perspectives of the
challenges women workers face in Oman.
The first section of the paper is a literature review, after which the Methodology is
outlined. Third, the findings present the major challenges faced by women in the labor force.
Finally, there is a section on discussion, implications, and conclusions.
1049
Women
workers in
Oman
To continue reading
Request your trial