Gulf businesswomen strike back! (page 3 of 3)

"It is not only about the standard of product, but about presenting it with packaging - and about to whom you present it, and when."
"Typically, women do not inherit the family business or buy established businesses," Dina Kaldi points out. "More likely, they start businesses from personal necessity or a lack of opportunity. Women need more flexibility to reconcile the competing claims of career and family - 70 percent of businesswomen [worldwide] have children."
I once interviewed an Arab woman politician - her country's leading campaigner for women's rights - who vehemently argued that sexual harassment did not exist in the Middle East. When presented with examples, she remained unimpressed. "What kind of woman cannot handle a little teasing?" she boomed.
On tiptoes. The politician is from a family whose business interests span three continents. But most women start out with little more than good grades and ambition - vulnerable and junior employees whose advancement requires striking a balance between proving their worth and tiptoeing around male colleagues' delicate sensibilities.
Often, it is the lack of opportunities within the structures of corporate machismo that prompts women to strike out alone. Arguably, then, the success of a few daughters of the Arab elite masks the obstacles facing less privileged women in a region where wasta - a network of personal and professional connections - rules.
"I am sure that a lot of women who inherit wealth are very able, but there is such a big difference between those Arab ladies born with a silver spoon in their mouth and those who have set up by themselves," says a conference organizer, who asked not to be named. "These self-made women are not getting the recognition they deserve. They don't get their moment in the spotlight at conferences, because they don't have the right family name. You try to bring in real businesswomen, but people just want to see the familiar names. It's a Catch-22."