Women’s Labor Force Participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq : A Study of Social and Psychological Barriers
Women’s labor force participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is very low, at 14 percent. This paper investigates a number of social and psychological barriers to participation, using recent methods in the measurement of social norms and cultur...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099728304282234440/IDU03d4388360c37c04149090b60d078abce3838 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37365 |
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okr-10986-373652022-05-03T05:10:39Z Women’s Labor Force Participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq : A Study of Social and Psychological Barriers Iman, Sen Afif, Zeina Gauri, Varun Mohamed, Gohdar WOMENS LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN FEMALE JOB SEEKERS LABOR MARKET EMPLOYMENT EQUITY TRADITIONAL ROLES ROLE OF WOMEN IN KURDISTAN BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT Women’s labor force participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is very low, at 14 percent. This paper investigates a number of social and psychological barriers to participation, using recent methods in the measurement of social norms and cultural beliefs and primary data collected from all three governorates. Furthermore, since greater growth in employment generation is expected in the private sector, the paper explores women and men’s perceptions toward working in the private sector in detail. The findings show that while 70 percent of women and men support women’s participation in the private sector, several challenges remain in both information about the sector, as well as perceived risks and discrimination. More broadly, the findings show that traditional gender role expectations may still impede women’s labor force participation. Perceptions of common societal practices and beliefs of other members from the same household are all correlated with women’s work. The paper explores additional mental barriers using a smaller sample of younger and more educated female job seekers, who are registered with a jobs agency, and finds that both perseverance in the job search process and trust and engagement with formal institutions are additional behavioral barriers. 2022-05-02T22:20:39Z 2022-05-02T22:20:39Z 2022-04 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099728304282234440/IDU03d4388360c37c04149090b60d078abce3838 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37365 English Policy Research Working Paper;10028 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Middle East and North Africa Iraq |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
WOMENS LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN FEMALE JOB SEEKERS LABOR MARKET EMPLOYMENT EQUITY TRADITIONAL ROLES ROLE OF WOMEN IN KURDISTAN BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT |
| spellingShingle |
WOMENS LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN FEMALE JOB SEEKERS LABOR MARKET EMPLOYMENT EQUITY TRADITIONAL ROLES ROLE OF WOMEN IN KURDISTAN BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT Iman, Sen Afif, Zeina Gauri, Varun Mohamed, Gohdar Women’s Labor Force Participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq : A Study of Social and Psychological Barriers |
| geographic_facet |
Middle East and North Africa Iraq |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;10028 |
| description |
Women’s labor force participation in
the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is very low, at 14 percent.
This paper investigates a number of social and psychological
barriers to participation, using recent methods in the
measurement of social norms and cultural beliefs and primary
data collected from all three governorates. Furthermore,
since greater growth in employment generation is expected in
the private sector, the paper explores women and men’s
perceptions toward working in the private sector in detail.
The findings show that while 70 percent of women and men
support women’s participation in the private sector, several
challenges remain in both information about the sector, as
well as perceived risks and discrimination. More broadly,
the findings show that traditional gender role expectations
may still impede women’s labor force participation.
Perceptions of common societal practices and beliefs of
other members from the same household are all correlated
with women’s work. The paper explores additional mental
barriers using a smaller sample of younger and more educated
female job seekers, who are registered with a jobs agency,
and finds that both perseverance in the job search process
and trust and engagement with formal institutions are
additional behavioral barriers. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Iman, Sen Afif, Zeina Gauri, Varun Mohamed, Gohdar |
| author_facet |
Iman, Sen Afif, Zeina Gauri, Varun Mohamed, Gohdar |
| author_sort |
Iman, Sen |
| title |
Women’s Labor Force Participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq : A Study of Social and Psychological Barriers |
| title_short |
Women’s Labor Force Participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq : A Study of Social and Psychological Barriers |
| title_full |
Women’s Labor Force Participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq : A Study of Social and Psychological Barriers |
| title_fullStr |
Women’s Labor Force Participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq : A Study of Social and Psychological Barriers |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Women’s Labor Force Participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq : A Study of Social and Psychological Barriers |
| title_sort |
women’s labor force participation in the kurdistan region of iraq : a study of social and psychological barriers |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2022 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099728304282234440/IDU03d4388360c37c04149090b60d078abce3838 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37365 |
| _version_ |
1764487080052785152 |