What frustrates Arab women most?

By Yahoo! Maktoob
DUBAI (Yahoo!) - Being overlooked for job promotion is the biggest frustration for women in the Arab world while housework and the pressure to look pretty figure among their top five peeves, a Yahoo! Maktoob Research survey showed.

One-fourth of 915 respondents in the regional survey considered the denial of job promotion as most frustrating, followed by 17% of those who find house chores as the biggest annoyance.

"Women in the Arab world are increasingly filling jobs, so it is interesting to read that some of their biggest frustrations are related to work, such as the denied opportunity for promotion in the workplace and inequality in pay," said Tamara Deprez, head of Yahoo! Maktoob Research in Dubai.

"This should help in correcting some Western misconceptions about women in the Arab world and their role as workers."

The social expectation to look good at all times was found to be most annoying by 8% of respondents, closely followed by the frustrations about inequality in pay and the husband's behaviour.

Arab women think 25 years is the ideal age to get married, according to the survey, which also found that longer the marriage, the more frustrating it gets. More women above the age of 46 said they were unhappy with their husbands.

Interestingly, a quarter of women in Qatar ranked the husband as their biggest peeve rather than not receiving a job promotion.

Top peeves of Arab women

1. Denial of promotion (25%)

2. Household work (17%)

3. Looking good at all times (8%)

4. Inequality in pay (7%)

5. My husband (7%)

6. Having parents-in-law in the house (6%)

7. Providing care to older family members (3%)

8. Children (2%)

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