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Job Satisfaction among Women in the United Arab Emirates By Musa Shallal 1 Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that contribute to job satisfaction for employed Emirati females in the United Arab Emirates. Survey data were collected from 1272 workers in both private and public sectors in all seven emirates of the UAE. Almost 50% of these women were married, 45% single, 4% divorced and 1% widows. Regression results indicated three prominent factors that enhance job satisfaction – age, education, and income. There is a positive significant relationship between job satisfaction and age. Second, employed females with education beyond the secondary level are more satisfied with their jobs than those with less than the secondary level (p-values less than 0.05). Third, the employed females with high incomes are more satisfied with their jobs than those who earn less (p-value=0.034). Keywords: women’s job satisfaction, United Arab Emirates, women in United Arab Emirates Introduction The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the fastest growing economies in the Middle East. It is often described as an open society compared to other countries in the Gulf region, one where women have more freedom. The recent 2010 World Economic Forum annual gender gap index ranked UAE at 103 of 134 countries, making it the region’s best-placed nation. Kuwait was next at 105th, followed by Bahrain at 110th, Qatar 117th, Oman 122nd, Saudi Arabia 129th and Yemen last at 134th. (http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Gender%20Gap/index.htm). A leading global management consulting firm Booz & Company (2010) reported women’s participation rate in the UAE (59%) is the highest among the other neighboring countries: far ahead of Qatar’s 36.4%, Bahrain’s 34.3%, and Saudi Arabia’s 14.4%. Earlier, the UAE 2005 census reported women account for 49.3 percent of the national population; and that their participation in the country’s business community has grown steadily from

References: 130 http://www.arabianbusiness.com/506390-working-women-contribute-us34bn-to-theuaes-economy (25 August 2010) 133 http://www.scad.ae/SCAD%20Publications/Household%20Expenditure%20and%20Inco me%5B1%5D.pd Swaroop, Sangeetha (2007) Empowering women through the Federal National Council