Children: Contacts

Change in gender role attitudes is a neglected dimension of research on the transition to adulthood in the Middle East and North Africa that has broad implications for young people’s outcomes, as well as attitudinal change in the region over time.

Cross-nationally, having a working mother during childhood is associated with more egalitarian attitudes among both adult men and women. However, no previous studies have explored this relationship in the Middle East and North Africa, where women’s employment rates have remained persistently low.

In China, the employment rate among middle-aged and older urban residents is exceptionally low. For example, 27% of 55-64-year-old urban women were in work in 2013, compared to more than 50% in UK, Thailand and Philippines.

Middle East and North Africa’s demographic trends reveal together a growing ageing population and an exceptional growth of the youth population. Increasing elderly population leads to significant consequences for the cost and organisation of health systems.

Bangladesh belongs to the top-ten remittance-receiving countries of the world with a yearly earning of US$15 billion. Comprising around ninety percent of the Bangladeshi overseas labour flow, men leave behind their spouses and children due to the high cost of migration and laws within the destination country.