Zafiris Tzannatos is an economist living in Lebanon where he has been Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at the American University of Beirut having previously held senior academic and research positions in Europe. He has been Advisor to Managing Director as well as Manager for the MENA region at the World Bank in Washington DC, and also Senior Advisor for the Arab States at the ILO office in Beirut. His current research is on the Middle East, and the euro and refugee crises in Europe.
Two interconnected challenges for the Arab countries are how to increase the low participation of women in the labour market and how to reduce a longstanding reliance on the public sector as ‘employer of last resort’, especially for women. This column explains the economic benefits of removing impediments to women’s employment in the private sector.