SALEH AL SHAIBANY - saleh_shaibani@yahoo.com - There is a leap of faith with both employers in the private and government sectors as more Omani mothers get jobs in the last 30 years.
Women are not only more likely to be the primary caregivers in a family but it has become more acceptable for married women to join the workforce than ever before.
The significant change in the gender equality in workplaces is the rise of working mothers in offices. As attitudes have changed, the number of working Omani mothers has quadrupled since 1984. There are about 62,000 working Omani mothers today, up from 7,500 in 1984, according to the manpower and civil service ministries. Women make up about 51 per cent of the Omani population.
Parents, particularly from areas outside Muscat, have shed their views that daughters’ roles were limited to getting married and raising children. Now women are breadwinners in this country as much as men. There are more women working in Oman than in any other GCC states, according to regional statistics.
Education may have played a role in pushing women into primary earning roles, as men are disproportionately employed in industries like engineering and technical professionals. Omani women, in particular, have benefited from the financial sector such as banking and also in basic education teaching.
In the medical area, Omani women also are increasingly challenging jobs as doctors making bigger strides from the traditional role of nursing.
About 35 per cent of all Omanis working in local airports are female in areas such as terminal operations and various administrative positions, previously out of limit for them. Women’s attitudes toward working have also changed. In the 1980s, mothers had the notion that their ideal situation would be staying at home and raise children.
But the Omani public is still divided whether it is a good thing for mothers to work at all. Some Omanis say that children are better off if the mother is at home and doesn’t have a job. But increasing number of working couple acknowledge that it is easier for families to earn enough to live comfortably.
A recent research at the Sultan Qaboos University suggested that demographically and socioeconomically, mothers staying home and working mothers differ. Children of working mothers adapt with life much easier and work out problems better than those whose mothers stay at home.
Changed attitude of men has also helped as well. Omani men, perhaps from the economical point of view, need their wives to work to help with the children’s education. Generation of men who were born in the 1980s, especially in Muscat, actually encourage their wives to work by giving them the necessary support they need even after the delivery of children.
Moreover, the changing role of women in society is the reason why more men, even in rural areas, are beginning to accept the fact that their wives have a life of their own and entitled to have a career.
In higher education, it is already prevalent that girls make up a bigger majority than boys studying for their degrees. If this trend continues, more women would occupy senior positions than ever before because they are now more active in education than men.
In the next ten years, women will challenge more job opportunities previously unreachable for them due to cultural barriers.
However, it is not alien for Omani mothers to work in the history of the country. Women have been working in the farms, pottery, carpet weaving and handicraft trades for centuries. With the Renaissance initiated by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos in 1970, women needed to adapt to modern working challenges that require formal education rather than heritage knowledge passed down from elders.
In the test of time, Omani women have successfully integrated in workplaces in the last 40 years to prove that they can be as competent as their male colleagues. Perhaps better in some professions.
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