The World Bank has hosted a group of Arab female business leaders for a three-day forum in Kuwait, to identify some of the challenges facing women in the work force in the Middle East.The Arab Times, reports that "Randa Akeel, World Bank consultant and organizer of the event said the forum was also aimed at arming women with ways to better compete in regional and global markets. Moreover, because female unemployment rates are sometimes twice to three times more than that of male unemployment rates in the Middle East, Akeel said the World Bank also wanted to offer the female business leaders ideas on how to create jobs for themselves and other women in the region."Some of the obstacles identified were -
* financing a business
* balancing work and motherhood
* the negative perception often attached to women that work in the Middle East
