BRIDGING GENDER DIVIDES

By Ranya Bakr - Advisor at GIZ

The gender gap in economy and entrepreneurship is not an Iraqi-specific issue, rather it is a global crisis that is hindering millions of capable females from achieving their true potential. Closing the gender gap is estimated to increase the global GDP by $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion. In the summer of 2020, I conducted research aimed to investigate the practical impediments that are causing the underutilization of youthful resources in Iraq, and due to the scarcity of statistics on the number of startups in Iraq. The paper featured The station foundation for entrepreneurship in Iraq as a sample, as it was one of the early adopters of the entrepreneurial trend in Iraq, and it was Baghdad’s first co-working space; their current executive director Mr Ammar Al-Khatib was amongst the 17 interviewees for this research and he stated: “we currently have 23 start-ups, 6 of them are

founded or co-founded by 9 females (only 26% of the start-ups at our organisation is founded/co-founded by females).”

This sample could possibly predict the ratio of male-led start-ups vs. female-led ones in Baghdad, and the case could be completely different across the rural areas of Iraq. However, there are a number of undeniable reasons that are hindering women from entering the labour market as entrepreneurs, first of which is the social norms of the Iraqi community; as the rise of social media has allowed multiple women in the middle east to head their own start-ups in beauty, fashion, and sustainable businesses, yet that case can only apply for Iraqi women living outside, as women in underprivileged provinces and areas are struggling to make ends meet especially if they lost their male supporter to conflict or illness, the World Bank reported that only 19 percent of the female population (ages 15 and above) are employed or self-employed. In a report for the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2019, the types of Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination against Women and Girls in Iraq included (but was not limited to) Honour Killing, Domestic Violence, Denying Civil status and Identification documents, although the report also included the laws against the aforementioned crimes, majority of Iraqis only abide by the law of tribes and these reasons could have a dramatic effect on female entrepreneurs, and women in general, as one female entrepreneur put it:

“We are being attacked sometimes on social media if we post about our businesses and success, there are women who were also threatened, so being known as a business owner is unsafe”. And another female entrepreneurship supporter echoed: “Iraqi culture doesn’t really raise women to have the confidence or to take a risk, or to go outside the box and try something new.”

Conversely, despite acknowledging that the social barriers are present in Iraq and the evident gender gap in shared start-up spaces, some male and female

participants chose to state that women are refusing to enter the labour market because of personal fears and barriers.

Additionally, Iraqi society has a very low female participation rate in both the labour force and leadership positions, many of the interviewees credited that to the lack of success stories of female leadership in business in Iraq, as a female interviewee remarked: “One of the main issues within the ecosystem is the lack of success stories when you have an example success story, this will enable people to follow that path and at least have a draft model of what they want”, While a female supporter stated: “you can find many women supporters, and there’s a contradiction, there aren’t many women entrepreneurs, and the few ones there, are more focused on traditional female “suitable” businesses like sewing and painting. But then you can find female entrepreneurship supporters, who are active and talking about finance, technology, and marketing and all these new things are not really associated with a woman within this Iraqi culture”.

One female entrepreneur confirmed the genderstereotype by noting: “As a woman who owns a handmade jewellery business, a business that is related to art, creativity, and fashion, I am not sure whether I would be taken as seriously as other entrepreneurial businesses such as technical projects or any other businesses with a male majority, although accessories and jewellery in Iraq are consumed by the majority of people, males or females.” Nonetheless, the effort of the currently existing support mechanisms has also been recognised by the interviewees, as a female entrepreneur said: “One of the well-known technical support bodies in Iraq is The Station, which is based in Baghdad, and there are other special organizations that provide programs about women empowerment and Entrepreneurship”, Although, Identifying the numerous issues was an easy task due to the practical experience of the research participants, the process of determining possible solutions was more challenging. Yet, the research participants made some insightful recommendations on the current issues that could lead to a possible break in the clouds. As a male supporter advocated for promoting entrepreneurship as a valid career choice for young people stating: “We are taking the first steps toward, an entrepreneurial culture and providing youth with alternatives for public sector jobs and even more sometimes for private-sector jobs with changing their mindset”, While a female entrepreneur demonstrated her interest in having a strong female voice in the economy: “We lack an official entity whose purpose is to focus on successful ladies, such as women entrepreneurs”. Another female founder stated: “I believe women need a safe space to meet together, a space where they can share their ideas, support each other and get the practical help they need to get to the next step.” In conclusion, the evident gender-gap in the entrepreneurial ecosystem could be bridged only by collaborative efforts starting with more female risktakers creating a demand, to enhancing the gendercapacity of the already existing support bodies, to finally having a strong female network that is able to advocate for policy reforms and a true change.