Oman

Oman is a country in the Middle East with a long sea-coast on the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman; it shares land borders with Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Oman is a Sultanage with a freely elected parliament and, in an official decree in 1970, was declared to be Arab and Islamic. The population of 3.4 million includes Arabs, south Asians, and Africans; most are Muslims, with Ibadahi Muslims predominant (75 percent).

A mannequin wearing a hijab (headscarf) in a storefront in Oman, with cosmetics in the background. Women wear hijabs, and while some women cover their faces and hands, not all do.

Omanis enjoy a high standard of living with a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $20,300 in 2009 and life expectancies of 71.87 years for men and 76.55 years for women. Oman prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, but the laws are frequently not enforced, and Islamic law and tradition, as well as social customs, may act to put women at a disadvantage. The World Economic Forum ranks Oman low on gender equality of the 134 countries it studied. On a scale where 0 is inequality and 1 is perfect equality, in 2009, Oman received an overall score [Page 1051]of 0.5928 (123rd of 134 countries). Oman received a score of 0.960 on health and survival (95th), 0.974 on educational attainment (93rd), 0.406 on economic participation and opportunity (128th), and 0.025 on political empowerment (128th).

Omani women have made great gains in education. Although female literacy is only 86 percent, that figure includes many older women who grew up before universal education became the norm. Girls today are as likely as boys to attend primary and secondary school and constitute a majority in tertiary education. In 2009, women held 10 percent of ministerial positions in the Omani government and none of the seats in parliament, although women have served in parliament in the past as well as in the cabinet and on the council of Oman.

Women make up just 34 percent of the labor force in Oman, and despite constituting a majority of students in tertiary education, they hold less than one-third of the tertiary teaching posts. Omani women earn 70 percent of what men earn for comparable work.

One reason for the low rates of employment among Omani women is that Oman has one of the highest fertility rates in the world, at 5.53 children per woman. Abortion is permitted only to save the mother's life, but birth control is available, and about one-quarter of Omani women report using contraception. Almost all births are attended by trained personnel, but results are less than the country's prosperity would suggest: the maternal mortality ratio is 64 per 100,000 live births and the infant mortality rate is 10 per 1,000 live births. Save the Children ranks Oman 67th of 75 less developed countries on its Mother's Index, 66th on its Women's Index, and 61st on its Children's Index.