DIFI Family Research and Proceedings - Protecting the Arab Family from Poverty: Employment, Social Integration and Intergenerational Solidarity, March 2015

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the socio-economic, cultural and political spheres that affect women, particularly in terms of education, have undergone considerable changes in recent years. Research has indicated a close relationship between education/training and employment. However, the dramatic increase in the number of educated women in the MENA region is not reflected in their participation in the labour market, which remains low despite an increase in recent years. The fundamental, long-standing puzzle of the relatively low labour-market participation of women in the MENA region relates to an issue that has recently been at the core of studies in the social sciences, namely work and family reconciliation. Partly reflecting this, appropriate policies have increasingly become part of employment-led social policy, as well as neo-liberal programmes, in the EU and its member states. However, in developing nations, and in MENA in particular, the problem of work–family balance has not yet been expressed to the same extent, and there is a dearth of literature on this matter. This is not to imply that no action is being taken, or that work-family policies have not advanced in MENA, or that several countries in the region have undertaken considerable reform in recent years.

This paper will discuss work and family reconciliation strategies implemented in MENA, with particular reference to four selected case studies—Iran, Qatar, Tunisia and Turkey. Recommendations will be proposed for the further development of policies, programmes and strategies that support parenthood, and in reconciling work and family life in MENA. This is crucial given global changes in the working world. There is also increasing awareness that it will be difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals if they do not focus on families. The twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family in 2014 offers an opportunity to highlight the family in all parts of the world and promote family-based solutions to attain development objectives.

يبحث هذا النص في موضوع سياسات مكافحة الفقر في البلدان العربية، من منظور الاسرة. وهو ما يستدعي تقديم بعض الافكار الجديدة في ما يتعلق بتعريف الفقر، وبتعريف الاسرة، من منظور يجمع بين الجانبين المفهومي والعملي في آن. ذلك انه اذا كان الهدف هو استخدام المعرفة من اجل صنع السياسات وتحسين معيشة الناس، فإن استخدام المفاهيم الخاطئة، والمنطلقات المجتزأة، من شأنه ان يدفع المعرفة والعمل في مسارات مضللة بعيدة عن تحقيق الفائدة المرجوة. لا بل ان ذلك قد يدفع احيانا في مسارات خاطئة او طرق مسدودة، فنهدر الموارد والطاقات، ونخطئ في التشخيص والتخطيط والتنفيذ. ولعل اشكالية العلاقة بين الفقر والاسرة هامة هنا. وقد يبدو الامر بديهيا في وجهة نظر معينة، بحيث لا يحتاج ذلك الى بحث يتجاوز الاساسيات المتعارف عليها. ولكن الامر اكثر تعقيدا مما يبدو عليه في المقاربات التقليدية، وهو ما يحفز على استحضار افكار جديدة وضخها في النقاش الدائر، وان تكن غير مكتملة بعد. وهذا النص نقدي، ويسائل الاجوبة التقليدية في مقاربة الفقر وعلاقته بالاسرة، دون ادعاء التوصل الى نتائج حاسمة. ولكن التساؤل والشك هما مفتاح المعرفة واليقين )وان كانا نسبيين بالضرورة(.

This paper focuses on poverty in the MENA region and whether it can be alleviated by intergenerational support within and across households. Intergenerational relations are mediated through several institutions. The most prominent of these are households, state, civil society and market. Combinations of social arrangements, economic resources and cultural traditions govern these institutions. Whether or not family and households can provide the necessary supports for their poorer or disadvantaged members would crucially depend on household composition, its economic resources and its interaction with the institutions of state, civil society and market. This paper also explores the trends in family formation and composition over time and household interaction with the above mentioned institutions through the labour market, or through various state and NGO driven welfare programmes. The above trends as well as migration impact the intergenerational support within families. This paper will argue for improved social support and regional integration in order to complement family resources as well as tackle some of the emerging issues in relation to population ageing and care economy in the region.

Achieving the objective of poverty reduction/eradication and promotion of social integration depends crucially on the expansion of productive and decent employment. Identifying the characteristics and trends of these three dimensions of the economy and society, as well as the linkages between them, is crucial for the design of policies that would contribute positively to increasing the welfare of Arab citizens.¹

The paper examines first the nexus of employment, poverty and social protection from the time reforms were initiated in most Arab countries since the early 1990s till today. In doing so, the paper reviews key economic, labor and social developments up to the dawn of the Arab Spring, as well as explanations that have been put forward by various analysts regarding the causes of the uprisings. Countries in the Arab region did not make the progress the designers and proponents of economic reforms claimed, nor did employment creation lag behind or poverty increase, as advocated by the critics. The paper puts forward the proposition that while many governments, international organizations, and local and regional analysts have put much emphasis on issues pertaining to Arab youth, most problems are structural and affect equally, if not more, the adult and aging populations.

After identifying some critical facts in the areas of employment, human capital development and social protection, the paper re-evaluates some of the policies Arab countries have pursued so far and proposes new ones that could contribute to the creation of sustainable and decent employment, and therefore increase the prosperity of Arab citizens both within the economy and in society.