HAVE ECONOMIC REFORMS PAID-OFF? GENDER OCCUPATIONAL INEQUALITY IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM IN EGYPT

This study considers the impact of over a decade of structural adjustment policies in Egypt on gender wage and occupational inequality. Using newly released Labor Force Sample Surveys (LFSS) for the years 2000-2004, a slight drop in public sector employment and a comparable increase in private sector employment for women is observed. Regardless of sector of employment, women still earn less than men, with private sector workers being the worst. Wage discrimination in the private sector in favor of men is evident at three groups of occupations: white collars, blue collars and professionals. Results also indicate occupational segregation and crowding of women in specific job types is a more serious issue in pay differences for blue collars in recent years, while pure discrimination is dictating wage differentials for professionals and white collars. Elements of productivity in terms of human capital endowments are not directly responsible for wage inequality in the private sector. Despite having less education, men receive higher wages for their comparative advantage in years of experience. Contrary to years of education, experience, as a factor endowment and a proxy for productivity, is highly valued and compensated for in favor of men

Wage Inequality by Education and Gender in MENA: Contrasting the Egyptian and Moroccan Experiences in the 1990s

The 1990s has been a decade of considerable socioeconomic change in the MENA region characterized by adoption of economic liberalization policies and a declining role of the state as an employer in the labor market. This paper explores some of the equity implications of this transition by examining changes in the distribution of returns to education and gender wage premia in the Egypt and Morocco market using joint models of educational choice and wage determination. Selectivity corrected returns to different levels of education indicate that a reduction in the role of the public sector lead to lower returns in the private sector and falling returns over time. Only at the university level, are returns higher in the private sector in Egypt indicating that employers place relatively little value on basic and secondary education. In Morocco there is some evidence of higher returns in the private sector by the end of the 1990, which might be indicative of better matching of educational credentials and productivity differences. Oaxaca-Blinder wages-differentials decompositions of sector and gender wage gap for Egypt and Morocco indicate that the unexplained component in public wage premia and gender gaps have declined in Egypt, but substantially increased in Morocco over the 1990s. Overall, economic liberalization and public sector retrenchment which were much more comprehensive in Morocco appear to have had a more dislocating effect also on labor market wage outcomes. The paper ends with some policy implications and suggests future directions of research in the areas of educational and public sector reform and policies to improve access of women to the private sectors in MENA

Wage Inequality, Returns to Education and Gender Premia in MENA

Since the early 1990s, most countries in the MENA region started a new development model that aims to rely mostly on a growing export oriented, and privately held economy to achieve higher rates of growth. This chapter explores some of the equity implications of this transition by examining changes in the distribution of returns to education and gender wage premia in the Egyptian and Moroccan labor market in the 1990s. This is accomplished by estimating joint models of educational choice and wage determination for both countries yielding selectivity corrected returns to different levels of education, from which a crude estimate of the private rate of return is calculated

The Functions of Multiple Languages in Mealtime Interactions of an Arabic-English speaking family : A Sociolinguistic Approach

This paper discusses the ways in which members of an Arabic-English speaking family under study use language for a variety of social roles and functions during their joint mealtime conversations. The data was collected over a period of 8 months, and subsequently analysed from a sociolinguistic and applied conversation analytic standpoint. The findings indicate that the use and switch between Arabic and English serve to assist parents in socialising their children into specific desired social practices and understandings, in allowing them to reinforce their identities as socialisers, as well as a way for them to communicate emotion to their children. These languages equally serve to assist the children to reinforce their constantly changing identities, to form a connection with their parents, and importantly as a symbolic tool through which they take up their agency in the process of socialisation. The findings also suggest that the constant use of both languages in this everyday mundane activity of joint mealtimes plays an integral role in maintaining the Arabic language as the family’s home or minority language

Arabic-English bilingual children’s early home literacy environments and parental language policies

The paper describes the role parental language ideology and the home literacy environment play in heritage language (HL) literacy learning of bilingual Arabic-English-speaking children in the UK. Information about the under-reported literacy practices of Arabic-English-speaking families will enhance current knowledge about HL literacy practices within the home. Data were collected over a period of 12 months in the form of language background surveys, audio recordings of activities within the home and parental interviews. The analysis of data suggests that parents’ HL ideologies are the impetus for language practices that develop children’s literacy skills in Arabic and the motivation to create a literacy environment within the home. The families made small libraries, invested (much) time in learning the unique skills needed to master an additional orthographic system and sent their children to Arabic weekend schools. The most significant factor, however, in determining HL literacy development was mothers’ HL proficiency. The main challenges were the diglossic nature of Arabic and difficulty in locating and affording Arabic literacy material that ensure systematic development of HL literacy skills

We should not bury our language by our hands : Crafting creative translanguaging spaces in higher education in the UAE

Translanguaging is an established lens through which to understand the notion of multilingual speakers\u27 use of their various languages and linguistic repertoires (Garcia & Wei, 2014) in communication. Although, multilingualism is a celebrated reality, many spaces, including those in education restrict student ability to use, think and learn in multiple repertoiresContrastively, research shows that translanguaging practices enhance learning in the classroom (Charamba, 2020; Daniel et al., 2019; Jones, 2017; Hornberger & Link, 2012) especially augmenting creativity and positionality (Hamman, 2017). This qualitative chapter describes an intervention carried out in UAE higher education classrooms in which undergraduate students were offered academic papers in English and Arabic and were provided the space to learn information through their languages. The medium of instruction in higher education in the UAE is English and faculty are usually non-Arabic speakers, meaning that students cannot always use Arabic in non-Arabic language modules. The project combined principles of translaguaging practice whilst focusing on learning through the medium of reading (Dalton & Proctor, 2007) for 15 weeks (semester). Data was collected through interviews (later transcribed) and written feedback, all data was content analysed to understand student perceptions and experiences (Mayring, 2004). The themes suggest that students found the intervention empowering and a more effective process through which to learn dense information quickly. The theme of pride for the Arabic language emerged whereby students were surprised that Arabic could have a non-relegated \u27place\u27 in the learning of complex ideas. Though the intervention served as a scaffolding tool to an extent, the overriding feedback from students was a renewed sense of respect for Arabic and their identity as bilinguals. Crafting creative classrooms that support multilingualism encourages critical thinking, enhances teaching methods, and empowers students to take ownership of their learning in an L2 environment

Photodegradation of Permethrin using Photocatalyst Montmorillonite-TiO2

            Photocatalyst Montmorillonite-TiO2 was synthesized using template CTAB and natural clay for degradation of Permethrin. The porosity and crystalline phase of catalyst were evaluated using N2 sorption analyzer and XRD diffraction. Permethrin photodegradation was optimized by varying reactant volume, irradiation time and initial concentration. Montmorillonite enhanced by CTAB showed typical porosity i.e. specific surface area, pore radii and pore volume for layer material. It properties decreased as this host material was impregnated with TiO2. XRD diagram indicated that space between layers of Montmorillonite expanded up to 4.7 Å. The diffractogram also confirmed that TiO2 formed an Anatase phase instead of Rutile. Photodegradation conducted at several condition showed relatively low photocatalytic activity. The highest photodegradation was achieved at 50 mL of Permethrin with initial concentration 10 ppm and 100 minutes’ irradiation. Keywords: Permethrin, Photodegradation, Montmorillonite-TiO

Pelatihan Pembuatan Hand Sanitizer Cair dari Ekstrak Kulit Jeruk Nipis di Kawasan Wisata Desa Burai

Burai village is located in Tanjung Batu sub-district, Ogan Ilir district. Burai Village is a tourism mainstay village in Ogan Ilir district. This village is known as the colorful village. As an ecotourism destination, water tourism and fishing programs have been developed, as well as environmentally friendly fish farming through organic feed. Other tourism potentials, such as the existence of traditional Bari houses that are more than 200 years old, and songket crafts. As patients with the COVID-19 virus have decreased, the number of tourists visiting Burai village has also increased. Health protocols are still needed, one of which is the use of hand sanitizer. This community service activity is to provide training on making liquid hand sanitizer from lime peel extract with the target audience being the Burai village community, especially tourism service providers. Lime plant is one of the plants cultivated by the people of Burai village. Orange peel extract contains essential oils that function to inhibit the growth of bacteria. In addition, orange peel extract has a fresh aroma. Activities are carried out by giving lectures, training on making hand sanitizers and packaging them. With this activity, it is hoped that the community will be able to provide hand sanitizers for both their own needs and tourists. The results of the activity showed high community participation in activities, more than 75% of the target audience liked the aroma of lime peel extract hand sanitizer

Mothers’ accounts of attending to educational and everyday needs of their children at home during covid-19: The case of the UAE

From March 2020 until July 2020, the UAE implemented mandatory distance learning due to COVID-19, which meant that children had to continue their learning remotely at home. Though schools concerted exemplary efforts to ensure that children received all that was necessary through advanced technology platforms and interfaces, the duty of ensuring that children continued to engage in successful learning fell solely on parents. This paper is based on a self-report study conducted during this first period of distance learning where parents were invited to anonymously complete a survey and then be interviewed. The paper relies on interviews as its main data source. Interview transcripts once transcribed were thematically analysed. One recurring theme in the data was gender differences in domestic and other duties as well as attending to the educational needs of children. Mothers, irrespective of cultural or educational background, disproportionately seemed to be the caretakers of the home and of children’s educational needs. Mothers spoke of their mental health concerns, pressures of time management, and negative effects on their own work. This paper makes an original contribution by exploring parental experiences of emergency remote learning and what these reflect about parental ethnotheories in the UAE