Consultant to develop a policy recommendation to promote flexible working arrangements in the workplace

Result of Service A short report in Arabic providing a policy recommendation on promoting flexible working arrangements and family-friendly policies in the workplace.

Work Location Beirut

Expected duration The overall duration of the contract is 1.5 month starting from the date of signature.

Duties and Responsibilities I. Background

For the past decade, the Arab world has witnessed a significant increase in female levels of education which has not however translated into expected subsequent economic progress for women in the region. ILO statistics suggest that the Arab region still has one of the world's lowest rates of female economic participation. Lebanon is no exception to the rule with a low rate of women's labor market participation compared men, despite a significant rise in Lebanese women's educational attainment.

Various factors can be attributed to the low economic participation rate of women in the Arab region in general, and in Lebanon in particular, including discriminatory social norms, deficient legal frameworks, and the unavailability of job opportunities, but one major barrier to women's labor force participation relates to the role they are expected to play in society and in their families and the unpaid care work they are expected to assume.

Although the uneven distribution of unpaid care work between men and women is a global phenomenon, it is particularly marked in the Arab States where women carry out 80 to 90 of all unpaid care tasks according to the McKinsey Global Institute, and spend, on average, 4.7 times more time on unpaid care tasks than men according to the ILO. These large gender gaps reflect the structure of the care economy in the Arab States, including in Lebanon where the persistent social beliefs and norms which categorize women as the main caretakers in their families contribute to further entrenching the existing gender inequalities in care and domestic tasks, negatively influencing women's labor force participation, jeopardizing their chances in pursuing careers and economically disempowering them along the way.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing lockdown measures have also come to further exacerbate the situation for working mothers all over the world as well as in Lebanon, leaving workplaces, schools, child daycare centers, and other care institutions closed over long periods of time, thus leading to an increase in women's share of unpaid care work and forcing working women to assume the compounded shift of paid work and unpaid care work. Consequently, and in the absence of adequate and non-discriminatory social protection systems, women in Lebanon were the hardest hit economically in terms of job lay-off and wage reduction.

The pandemic has therefore brought to the forefront the centrality of care work and highlighted the need for comprehensive care policies and infrastructures deemed essential for women's economic empowerment and gender equality. It has also placed flexible work arrangements, especially remote work, in the spotlight and demonstrated how well such arrangements might work in practice, leading many countries, including Arab countries, to introduce new policies aiming to reduce the pressure on working parents such as flexible work schedules, the possibility to work from home, reduced working hours, etc.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was already strong evidence that effectively implemented flexible working arrangements had positive impacts not only on employees - by giving them the opportunity to maintain a healthy work-life balance, but also on employers - by leading to a more engaged and committed workforce, on the families - by allowing men and women to engage in more co-sharing of care responsibilities, and on the communities in general.

In Lebanon however, a case-study developed by ESCWA in partnership with ILO on childcare and women economic empowerment has shown that despite some advancements and reforms that have taken place over the past few years, important barriers are still to be lifted to ensure an enabling environment for women to participate in labor markets. It has also shown that flexible work arrangements are simply absent from Lebanese policy and are not covered by any legal texts despite their proven significant contribution to women's economic participation.

As such, and as the world gradually enters a post-COVID phase, there is an opportunity to shift traditional ways of working to help working parents better balance work with their family responsibilities. It is therefore important for the Lebanese government to develop and implement a legal framework that offers both women and men equal flexible working opportunities to help them overcome work family tensions, and share care responsibilities more equally, thus opening the door for a larger shift from unpaid to paid work among women.

Against this backdrop, ESCWA is supporting the Lebanese Women and Children Parliamentary Committee to explore the possibility and set necessary foundation to the formulation of legal and policy frameworks that allow the implementation of flexible working arrangements in the workplace to facilitate work-life balance and encourage co-sharing of care responsibilities between men and women, with the ultimate aim of increasing female labor force participation in the country.

II. Tasks and Deliverables

Under the direct supervision of the Social Affairs Officer responsible for the care economy stream at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), and overall guidance of the Gender Justice, Population and Inclusive Development cluster leader, the consultant will be responsible for the following tasks and deliverables:

- Undertake an extensive review of the existing legal texts and frameworks related to/governing flexible working arrangements in Lebanon; - Identifying legal obstacles and bottlenecks that might face the formulation of laws, by-laws and policies on flexible work arrangements; - Identify enablers and key actions that need to be taken by various stakeholders (state, employers, workers, business organizations, etc.) in order to put flexible work frameworks in place and practice; - Provide example on existing legal frameworks, policies and experiences from other countries; - Develop a first draft of a short report in Arabic bringing together the findings of the review and providing a policy recommendation on promoting flexible working arrangements and family-friendly policies in the workplace (to be reviewed by ESCWA) - Prepare the final draft of the report, integrating ESCWA and the Lebanese Women and Children Parliamentary Committee's comments; - Providing copies or links to all resources, including legal frameworks, mentioned in the study.

Qualifications/special skills Academic Qualifications: An advanced University degree (master's or equivalent) in law, economy, social studies or related areas is required. Experience: At least 8 years of relevant work experience in the field of labor laws and regulations is required; previous experience with multiple stakeholders on similar topics and issues is desirable; experience with international organizations on similar issues is desirable. Language: Fluency in Arabic is required. Knowledge of English is desirable.

No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.