Mid East Women Beat Men In Education, Lose Out At Work

In nearly two thirds of Middle Eastern countries, there are more women than men in university, according to United Nations statistics. This is a giant step towards -- and in many cases beyond -- one of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals: to eliminate gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015. While most women's rights campaigners welcome the progress in education, many are concerned it does not translate into greater equality in the workplace. In Lebanon, for example, women make up 54% of university students, but only 26% of the labor force and 8% of legislators, senior officials and managers, according to the United Nations Statistics Division. The factors driving young women to seek a university education are not also driving them into the workplace. (Source)