Kuwait has attained the highest percentage of working female citizens in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, reaching 57.9 percent in 2023.
This achievement was revealed by Dr. Lubna Al-Qadi, Head of the Women’s Studies and Research Center at the College of Social Sciences at Kuwait University.
Dr. Al-Qadi shared these insights during her participation in a working paper at a discussion panel titled “Migration to the Gulf: Possible Future Scenarios: A Vision from the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries and the Countries of Origin.”
The panel was organized by the Gulf Research Center at Cambridge University as part of the 14th Annual Gulf Research Forum, held from the 9th to the 11th of this month.
Highlighting the role of educated women in a sustainable economy, Dr. Al-Qadi noted that the retirement age for women in Kuwait has been raised from 50 to 53 years to enhance their participation in the labor sector.
Al Qadi emphasized the importance of adopting family-friendly policies in the private sector to attract young married women, “Adopting family-friendly policies in the private sector can attract young married women to this productive sector.”
Dr. Al-Qadi also pointed out that gender equality in the labor market leads to increased productivity and reduces the need for migrant labor. She stressed the significance of implementing these initiatives to improve Kuwait’s ranking in the Women, Business, and the Law Index issued by the World Bank and the Gender Gap Index issued by the World Economic Forum.
