The KIP Index is the first Arab MENA sector-based measure of women-inclusive policies and practices in local organizations produced by the Center for Inclusive Business and Leadership (CIBL) for Women. It includes both quantitative and qualitative data from 11 countries that surveyed over 1790 formal employers and 523 interviews conducted to capture employer trends and the lived experiences of women across 6 sectors in the region.
The KIP Index tracks local employer policies and practices regarding the recruitment, retention and promotion of women across sectors.
The Lived Experience Index tracks female citizen experiences of recruitment, retention, and promotion in the sectors within which they are currently employed.
Download the KIP Index Summary Report-English
Download the KIP Index Summary Report-Arabic
The Guiding Vision
Partnering with employers to make workplace practices and systems more inclusive for women, starting with the 18 million formally employed women across the Arab MENA.
The comprehensive study of the recruitment, retention and promotion of women in the workplace
More on the KIP Index
The KIP Index is the first indigenous organizational-level measure of the recruitment, retention and promotion of women, informal sector employers across the Arab MENA region. The pioneering initiative by the Center for Inclusive Business and Leadership for Women (CIBL for Women), tracks employer HR practices and policies as well as women's lived experiences in 11 countries, in order to provide insightful and concrete data about the participation in, and challenges faced by, women in the workplace.
The data and analysis included in the KIP Index will serve as the foundational reference for decision makers, human resource practitioners, and policy makers in both the public and private sector, to engage in evidence-based dialogue, in order to accelerate effective change in employer policies and to strengthen gender-inclusive workplace practices across the region. As the first regional data-driven index, the nuances and heterogeneity of the realities of women in the Arab MENA will be captured, and transformed into a measurable set of dimensions and benchmarks, to influence sustainable change.
The first edition of the KIP Index was launched in March, 2021. Download it here.
Pioneering a localized set of indicators to measure women's economic participation for the Arab MENA region
Benefits of the KIP Index for organizations
Improve HR systems and practices
Gain access to a platform for your organization to engage in a detailed review of how women are included and excluded in the workplace, in terms of recruitment, retention and promotion. This results in a deeper understanding of the specific areas for improvement, helps you identify any internal practices that are either gender-biased or discriminatory, and ultimately drive more inclusive HR systems within your organization.
Create an organizational dialogue
Develop a baseline for collective discussion, analysis, and actions within your organization.
Enhance recruitment, retention and promotion practices
Create a mechanism for a detailed examination of the gender gaps in compensation, rewards and promotion trends, as well as recruitment practices, in order to better strategize to enhance these systems and procedures. Openness and transparency on these issues is helpful to attract top talent and retain high-performing employees.
The publication of the KIP Index will provide both public and private sector stakeholders critical data to assist in better developing national and regional strategies for women's economic empowerment and inclusion.
The KIP Index Methodology
We employed a feminist research and management philosophy and multi-stakeholder participatory-action method in order to arrive at indicators that capture local experiences and realities of the workplace. To that end, we built strong partnerships with organizations across 11 countries. Through these partnerships we have built a network of approximately 24,000 employers, including around 85,000 women that we will be targeting for this pilot project.

Tracking employer perspectives and practices across the MENA region
The aim of the KIP Index
The KIP Index will provide employers in the local markets with first-hand empirical data, as well as knowledge on specific workplace strategies. The aim of the KIP Index is to improve the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women in the formal economy, in order to enhance the overall livelihood of women (freedom, choice, survival) through access to wages (monetary) and other resources. This inaugural CIBL for Women project is made possible through generous funding from the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) in the US Department of State.
The KIP Index will contribute to creating secure and dignified work opportunities for women. This means:
- Capturing and analyzing women's experiences in the workplace
- Assessing existent employer policies, practices and systems pertaining to women
- Designing evidence-based policy reforms
- Producing accessible and multi-lingual knowledge
- Positively influencing employer systems and policies