The April 2011 issue of Human Resource Development International contains four articles devoted to women, empowerment and human resource development in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Beverly Dawn Metcalfe, senior lecturer in the Center for Organizations and Development at the University of Manchester, wrote the guest editorial piece and one of the articles.

In her editorial, she states that her aim is to “promote transformative scholarship that addresses the centrality of women, work, empowerment and development in Arab Gulf states.”

She points out that Human Resource Development (HRD) has overlooked gender concerns. She notes that the articles in the issue of HRDI on women in the Gulf region describe the challenges the women there face, highlight positive gains made and critique outsiders’ assumptions.

Intersecting themes shaping women’s identity are globalization, women’s movements, Islamic feminism, institutional development and governance.

In her article, “Women, Empowerment and Development in Arab Gulf States: A Critical Appraisal of Governance, Culture and National Human Resource Development (HRD) Frameworks,” Metcalfe makes a case for inserting gender into the discipline of HRD. She considers national HRD planning in the context first of several Gulf states and provides gender statistics on them in comparison to the U.K. and the U.S.: women holding seats in parliament, women in minister positions, labor force participation and more. Women in the Gulf states are severely disadvantaged in all these measures.

Moreover, surveys reveal that both men and women see the man as the family provider and protector of the wife. The author then compares Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. None of these countries has a dedicated women’s ministry. But beyond this shared feature, variations across the three countries appear in women’s organizations and possibilities for women’s leadership training. Metcalfe points out that a key area will be finding ways for women to balance family and work responsibilities.
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Implementing QDDR Recommendations on Gender and Development
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Thursday, April 14
1957 E Street NW, 7th floor, City View Room
The Elliott School of International Affairs
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This roundtable discussion will look at examples of how a gender perspective has been implemented in infrastructure, education, health, fragile states, and economic empowerment projects. This discussion will include panelists from a range of governmental and non-governmental organizations. The James P. Grant lecture by Ambassador Melanne Verveer will address the importance of a gender perspective to achieving the QDDR goals including health.
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Roundtable Discussion
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Nilufar Ahmad, Senior Gender Specialist, the World Bank
Leigh Carter, Executive Director, Fonkoze USA
Caren Grown, Senior Gender Advisor, USAID
Anju Malhotra, Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Impact, ICRW
Ritu Sharma, President and Co-Founder, Women Thrive Worldwide
Winnie Tay, Director of Program Management, Plan International USA

Moderator: Barbara Miller, Director, Global Gender Initiative
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James P. Grant Lecture: Gender, Diplomacy, and Development
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Melanne Verveer
Ambassador at-large for Global Women’s Issues
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Please RSVP here
Free and open to the public
Light refreshments will be available starting at 9:30 am

Sponsored by the Global Gender Initiative of the Institute for Global and International Studies and the GW Collaborating Centers for Public Health and Development

The George Washington University