Women’s empowerment and its effect on community development in Oman: predictive model and indicators for best practices

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the level of women’s empowerment in Omani society from the point of view of female university students from three public universities with respect to educational opportunity, equality in employment and their social status in the community. The study proposes a model for how to empower women based on the perceptions of university females and the factors that must be considered for improving the status of women in Oman. The model also provides indicators for social and community practices using confirmatory factor analysis and Path Analysis to determine pertinent factors and their effects on women’s development. The results showed a strong direct effect of women’s empowerment in Oman on community development. Despite the latest developments in Oman, as long as cultural rigidity remains, tradition upholds a conservative viewpoint of women, and families adhere to their uncompromised principles, women will remain subordinated by these factors according to the viewpoint of participants. This study concludes with recommendations for further research, including enrolment of females in all areas of specialisation creating more job opportunities for women, encouraging women’s leadership, and additional education of women’s rights and needs.

RÉSUMÉ

Cette recherche étudie le niveau d'autonomisation des femmes dans la société omanaise du point de vue des étudiantes de trois universités publiques en ce qui concerne les possibilités d'éducation, l'égalité d'emploi et leur statut social dans la communauté. L'étude vise à proposer un modèle d'autonomisation des femmes base sur la perception des femmes universitaires et des facteurs qui doivent être pris en compte pour améliorer le statut des femmes en Oman. Le modele propose va fournir egalement des également des indicateurs pour les pratiques sociales et communautaires en utilisant CFA et Path Analysis pour déterminer les facteurs pertinents et leurs effets sur le développement des femmes. Les résultats ont montré un fort effet direct de l'autonomisation des femmes en Oman sur le développement communautaire. Malgré les derniers développements en Oman, tant que la rigidité culturelle demeurera, la tradition conservatrice auxquelles les femmes et les familles s’y attachent sans compromis, les femmes resteront subordonnées par ces facteurs selon le point de vue des participants. Cette étude se termine par des recommandations pour de nouvelles recherches, y compris l'inscription de femmes dans tous les domaines de spécialisation, créant plus de possibilités d'emploi pour les femmes, encourageant le leadership des femmes et une éducation supplémentaire sur les droits et les besoins des femmes.

KEYWORDS:

• Community-development
• Oman
• women development in Oman

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Oman
• l'autonomisation des femmes
• les indicateurs
• l'université

View correction statement:

Correction to: Amzat, Al-Ani, Ismail, AL OMAIRI, Women’s empowerment and its effect on community development in Oman: predictive model and indicators for best practices

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Ismail Hussein Amzat obtained his Bachelor degree In Arabic Language and Literature from Al-Azhar University, Cairo Egypt, Master degree in Education in Educational Administration from International Islamic University Malaysia and Doctoral degree in Education in Educational Management, Planning and Policy from University Malaysia. He is a current senior visiting lecturer of Educational Management at the Universiti Utara Malaysia (Malaysian Northern University) and previously lectured in some Malaysian public and private universities as well as schools. He has vast experience in research on educational leadership and management and has published quite reasonable papers in many reputable journals indexed in Scopus and ISI on university management, school leadership, job satisfaction and decision-making. He is an editor of a book “Fast forwarding Higher Education Institutions for Global Challenges: Perspectives and Approaches” by Springer, 2016 and “Teacher Empowerment toward Professional Development & Practices: Perspectives across Borders” by Springer, 2017 and “Teacher Professional Knowledge and Development for Reflective & Inclusive Practices” by Routledge, 2017.

Wajeha Thabet Khadem Al-Ani is an associate professor at College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University. Her research interest is in educational philosophy, women studies, values and learning theories which is related to social and cultural aspects. She published as a first and co-author of seven books and more than seventy-five papers in International journal and conference proceedings and received more than nine internal and external research grants.

Omer Hashim Ismail is an Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Foundations and Administration, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University, USA, and specializes in Educational Administration. He was a Deputy Dean for Postgraduate Studies and Research at the College of Education. His area of research interest includes Educational Planning and policy, Educational reform, education and socioeconomic development. He has written and published many papers on the above-mentioned areas in the reputable journals.

Turkiya Al Omairi is a graduate of Sultan Qaboos University Oman, specializing in English Education. She previously worked as a research assistant at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. She then worked as a lecturer at different institutions in Oman such as Caledonian College of Engineering and Oman Tourism College. She currently worked as a freelance researcher.