FIGURE 6.20 Percentage of the region’s women who are in the labor force (2011). Between 2005 and 2011, the percentage of women who were earning wages in the labor force increased in 10 of the 22 countries and territories in the region, with the largest increase, more than 13 percentage points, in Qatar. The largest decreases (more than 10%) of women working were in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, and may be a result of major unrest in those countries.