in the professional realm fields of study that are more likely to be chosen by young women such as humanities and social sciences may not be as appealing to employers as the maledominated technical and scientific disciplines thus their skills are seldom the primary barrier to their participation in the economy at the same time that the youth population has expanded and become more educated domestic and foreign companies have expressed an increasing unwillingness to invest in the region the overall scarcity of jobs can exacerbate traditional barriers faced by women in the workplace