Identifying Opportunities to Improve the Lived Experience and Health of Working Women in the MENA: From COVID-19 to Recovery

Abstract:

The American University of Beirut and Simon Fraser University will co-lead research to answer the question of what efforts are needed to attract women to the workforce, protect their health and prevent female labour market attrition during ‘shocks’. Through analysis of existing surveys in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with a specific focus on 11 selected low- and middle-income countries (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen), policy analysis and updated regional literature reviews, the team will examine changes in female labour force participation and impacts on health and well-being, before, during and after COVID-19. Using mixed methods, data collection will examine the education, health and early childhood development sectors where women predominate, using Lebanon as a case example.

Expected results

Expected results includes:

• A pioneering study on the differentials in labour force attrition and a disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women vis-à-vis men and the underlying mechanisms.
• Region-wide and country-specific associations between employment and health, and gender-specific changes in these during the COVID-19 period.
• Informed efforts by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health and the inter-sectoral Early Childhood Development Task Force to promote and sustain women’s labour-force participation and protect women’s health.