Empowering gulf women in labor law: Is it moving toward international standards or remaining subject to social traditions?

Mohamed Bendari; Rahima Kharusi; Hafiz Gaffar; Moustafa Mousa; Heba Sadiq

doi:10.20897/femenc/18744

Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics

Research Article

2026, 10(2), Article No: 4

Empowering gulf women in labor law: Is it moving toward international standards or remaining subject to social traditions?

Mohamed Bendari ¹ ^* , Rahima Kharusi ¹, Hafiz Gaffar ¹, Moustafa Mousa ¹, Heba Sadiq ¹

¹ Sultan Qaboos University, OMAN
^* Corresponding Author

https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/18744

Published in Volume 10 Issue 2: 13 Jun 2026

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Abstract

Empowering women in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries through labor laws is essential for achieving sustainable development and eliminating discrimination against women. Providing decent work for all without discrimination based on gender is an issue that has transcended national sovereignty and become an international matter. Although there have been previous studies on women's work in the Gulf countries, they primarily focus on the issue of non-discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia. The article fills a research gap by examining the alignment of labor laws in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with international standards. Some of these laws prohibit women from working at night due to social traditions and do not grant them sufficient maternity leave. Additionally, there is no provision for workplace sexual harassment in some labor laws, despite Gulf countries signing the CEDAW with few reservations not related to women's work. The article concluded that there is gender-based discrimination against women in some labor laws in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The article recommends that legislators in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries amend women's labor regulations to align with the principle of equality and international labor standards.

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APA 7th edition

In-text citation: (Bendari et al., 2026)
Reference: Bendari, M., Kharusi, R., Gaffar, H., Mousa, M., & Sadiq, H. (2026). Empowering gulf women in labor law: Is it moving toward international standards or remaining subject to social traditions?. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 10(2), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/18744

AMA 10th edition

In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Bendari M, Kharusi R, Gaffar H, Mousa M, Sadiq H. Empowering gulf women in labor law: Is it moving toward international standards or remaining subject to social traditions?. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. 2026;10(2), 4. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/18744

Chicago

In-text citation: (Bendari et al., 2026)
Reference: Bendari, Mohamed, Rahima Kharusi, Hafiz Gaffar, Moustafa Mousa, and Heba Sadiq. "Empowering gulf women in labor law: Is it moving toward international standards or remaining subject to social traditions?". Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics 2026 10 no. 2 (2026): 4. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/18744

Harvard

In-text citation: (Bendari et al., 2026)
Reference: Bendari, M., Kharusi, R., Gaffar, H., Mousa, M., and Sadiq, H. (2026). Empowering gulf women in labor law: Is it moving toward international standards or remaining subject to social traditions?. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 10(2), 4. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/18744

MLA

In-text citation: (Bendari et al., 2026)
Reference: Bendari, Mohamed et al. "Empowering gulf women in labor law: Is it moving toward international standards or remaining subject to social traditions?". Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, vol. 10, no. 2, 2026, 4. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/18744

Vancouver

In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Bendari M, Kharusi R, Gaffar H, Mousa M, Sadiq H. Empowering gulf women in labor law: Is it moving toward international standards or remaining subject to social traditions?. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. 2026;10(2):4. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/18744

Keywords

empowerment, discrimination against women, equal employment opportunities, night work, maternity leave, sexual harassment

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