Some may be surprised to learn that the Middle East and North Africa region has more women on corporate boards than any other major region of the world.
But the figure is just 12.4 per cent, according to Women on Boards, a British government report dated February last year. To make matters worse, the Middle East has one of the lowest proportions of women in the executive workforce - just 26 per cent, according to the consultancy Mercer.
"There needs to be a commitment to having higher numbers of women in management," says Erin Miller Rankin, a senior associate of the international arbitration group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, who arranged an event to discuss the topic in Dubai last week. But how can the objective be achieved?
One of the first female partners of Deloitte in the Middle East suggests that it may be time to force companies' hands.
"We need to hurry natural progression," says Rana Ghandour Salhab of Deloitte, who spoke at the Freshfields event last week.
"I am not in favour in general of quota systems, but I don't think we have a choice," she adds. "[In] more developed countries, it did not work naturally, so why should it work naturally in our part of the world, where we women have been less economically active historically than [in] other parts of the world?"
A quota system has worked well in Norway, experts have noted. In 2002, just 6.8 per cent of Norwegian companies had female directors, and today it is 44.2 per cent, according to the British report.
Yet the policy attracted significant opposition from the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, a business lobby that represents employers.
The group complained that increasing the number of women on boards would increase a sense of "tokenism" and lead to talented men being overlooked in favour of poorer-quality female candidates, according to the British government report.
But introducing a quota system does not mean appointing unqualified women, says Ms Salhab.
"It does not mean putting an unqualified, untalented woman on a board anywhere. It means just keeping that seat vacant until you find the right one," she says.
Most women would like to be appointed to senior positions on the basis of merit rather than simply being put forward to fulfil statistical requirements, says Cynthia Corby, a partner at Deloitte who is undecided about quotas.
She suggests the answer to the problem may lie in women pairing up with sponsors in the workplace. Sponsors will assist in getting women on the right projects and help to create "visibility" for them to progress, says Ms Corby, who also took part in the Freshfields event.
But women also have to help themselves. New research by Ashridge Business School has identified some tips, including:
Be explicit when identifying career goals, ambitions and aspirations.
Find a boss who can play an important role in your career success.
Identify people in the office who can help you, including coaches, mentors and sponsors.
Develop self-awareness by identifying your major strengths and any areas you need to develop, and always welcome feedback from others.
Be open-minded by welcoming opportunities when they arise, and always put yourself forward for key projects and assignments.
Juggling the work-life balance is tricky and needs careful planning. There will be times when things feelout of balance and other times when you feel more in control. Find strategies that work for you.
Finally, remember, you can have it all, just not all at the time.
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