McDonald’s Qatar, which currently has women occupying 40 percent of leadership roles in various departments, plans to grow its female leadership to 50 percent, an official has said yesterday on the occasion of International Women’s Day (IWD).
Addressing a Town Hall meeting at its flagship Town Center branch, General Manager of McDonald’s Qatar Mithqual Abu Nasser said the Company also plans to raise its women workforce from 40 percent to 50 percent in the next four to five years.
To date, McDonald’s Qatar, which is owned and operated by Al Mana Restaurants and Food Company, employs over 1,500 employees and operates a network of 64 restaurants across the country.
Speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the event, Abu Nasser said two more McDonald’s branches will open at the Vendome Mall and Lulu Abu Sidra by month-end, with more branches planned for opening within the year.
Since opening in 1995, the Company has now grown to be one of the leading quick service restaurant brands in Qatar and seeks to emerge as a leader among food service retailers in the region on women empowerment in the fast food industry.
“We are very proud of our women leadership. And not because they are women, but because they are women and they are competent,” said Abu Nasser. Asked on the issue of gender pay gap, which remains to be a prevailing concern globally, he said McDonald’s Qatar does not discriminate among its staff.
“Our male and female salary scale is the same. No difference whether you are male or female, or if you are married or single, or from whatever nationality you come from. I opened the first McDonald’s in the GCC region in 1993. And when we set the salary scale for McDonald’s Corporation, some people asked ‘will you pay x nationality the same as y and the same as z?’ And it is still the same case today. No discrimination between male or female staffs having the same position and the same jobs. Mc Donald’s pays the same benefits and compensation,” Abu Nasser told The Peninsula during the forum.
Earlier in his speech, he also said: “As our nation prepares to welcome the world for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 this year, especially as McDonald’s Corporation is one of the official sponsors, we continue to lead from the front – as we always have – to show a positive example being a progressive, gender diverse, and inclusive brand force in the country, inspiring and stewarding change across the fast food industry”.
Sara Abuobeid, Marketing Manager at McDonald’s Qatar added: “To create a greater climate of gender diversity and equity in Qatar’s food and beverage sector, we, at McDonald’s Qatar, are taking the lead to correct the ‘bias’ with an all-female crew at one of our most popular branches, Town Center in the heart of Doha. This is not new territory for us; we have a demonstrable history of working towards creating a strong culture of inclusion within the company. McDonald’s Qatar has employed over 600 women since 1995, and today, women represent 40 percent of its workforce across all levels in Qatar”.
To celebrate the International Women’s Day, the Company organised an IWD Town Hall for university students, women interest groups, and media, as well as launched a LinkedIn page with debut article ‘Women of McDonald’s Qatar’.
The Company also marked IWD with an all-female crew running the McDonald’s Qatar Town Center branch, for three consecutive days until today, making McDonald’s Qatar the first food service retailer to do so in the food and beverage sector in Qatar as well as one of the first in the region.
A total of 40 women operate the restaurant, and are serving a projected 5,000 guests during the initiative. Customers were also invited to join the #biascorrect initiative, McDonald’s global IWD call to action this year to build and promote more equity at work. The community is also welcome to use the #biascorrect hashtag, and share how they take their part in dismantling stereotypes to redeem free chicken nuggets.
At a Middle East and Africa level, McDonald’s aims to grow its regional female representation to 40 percent restaurant crew and managers, 35 percent mid-management officials, and 30 percent leadership, with a goal of reaching gender parity by the end of 2025.
