Men make $3,000 more than women every year

Dubai: It is often said that women have more control over purchasing decisions in the household, but when it comes to who brings more money to the table, the female gender is still lagging far behind.

The Middle East and African region has the largest gender income gap in the world, with men pocketing about $3,000 (Dh11,000) more than women every year.

As of 2012, the average annual disposable income for men was $4,990 compared to only $1,629 for women, according to figures supplied to Gulf News by Euromonitor International.

While Middle East and African women’s average leftover money was 67.4 less than men last year, the income gap per country is much bigger. Within the GCC area, it appears the UAE has the largest disparity, where women’s disposable earnings amounted to only 24 per cent of men’s as of 2012.

In Qatar, women’s disposable pay was 29.9 per cent of men’s, while in Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, females’ disposable income accounted for 33.8 per cent, 26.4 per cent and 28.4 per cent of men’s respectively.

Experts attributed the huge pay disparity to the low female labour force participation, despite that many women in the region have clearly attained a higher level of education.

Analysts at Euromonitor expressed concern about the income gap citing that it “can restrict the consumer market potential, because women often make the majority of purchasing decisions in the household.”

“We expect this trend to continue for a while,” An Hodgson, a Euromonitor analyst, told Gulf News. “The main factor is the low rate of female employment in the region.”

As of last year, the female employment rate in GCC countries accounted for 44 per cent of economically active female population.

However, Hodgson said, the growing number of adult women who are educated will contribute to narrowing the income gap.

Within the GCC, the female adult literacy rate has increased from 82.1 per cent of the female population aged 15 years and above in 2007 to 85.7 per cent in 2012.

“This is helping more women continue into tertiary education and get better paid, higher status jobs,” Hodgson added.