Female labor force in the Muslim world large interval across predominantly Muslim nations. However, across most majority Muslim nations, there is a sharp convergence on female employers. With the exception of Turkey, hardly any women are employers in many majority Muslim nations. In Turkey, 48% of female workers are employers. This statistic suggests that Turkish women hire at least one additional worker for their self-employed commercial enterprises considering that self-employment is the most common form of employment among this demographic group. The second largest percentage of female employers as a percentage of female workers is 3% in Egypt. In Indonesia where 68% of women are self-employed and
Female labor force in the Muslim world and economic opportunities are limited. Possible explanations for this phenomenon could the same determinants of high self-employment among females and low rates of female employers: low levels of economic development, gendered employment social norms, or capital-intensive industry. This last explanation may be particularly salient in the oil-rich Muslim nations because petroleum exports are capital-intensive and require very high skilled labor which most Muslim women are incapable of providing given low levels of education. The Great Recession has increased unemployment across the board in many Muslim nations and female workers were not left unaffected. According to the World Bank, in 2009,