Opportunities Abound for Women in Certain Business Management Roles in Dubai

The recent calculations of the workforce in Dubai have been released, and it clearly shows the result of the billions of dollars invested in infrastructure to recruit expatriates into the financial, real estate and tourism sectors. Over ninety percent of the workforce is made up of foreigners, with men out numbering women seven to one.

This vast difference between men and women in the Dubai workforce is largely due to the fact that 45% of the workforce is in the construction sector, which naturally attracts male workers. Fortunately for women, the projected sectors with significant growth in the next two quarters are human resources, sales, marketing and public relations. A fair percentage of these positions are of mid-management level or higher.

While continued growth in the non-constructor sectors will help even the male to female worker ratio some, it is unlikely to make it a clear 50/50 due to the number of ongoing construction projects in planning stages throughout Dubai. However, many of the sectors with the high growth are seeking more females for the work force.

The public relations sector in particular is seeing a high rate of recruitment, as PR firms struggle to keep up with client demands for post-recession marketing and reputation management. A large percentage of these firms have management vacancies that they are desperate to fill. This favors well for women who were left out of the last few years frantic hiring of construction workers, as recruiters and headhunters begin their searches to fill these newly created positions.