In UAE 23 thousand women run USD 50 billion valued businesses

The vice president of the UAE Gender Balance Council, Mona al Mari, revealed that over 23 thousand Emirati women are running USD 45 billion to USD 50 billion worth of businesses. Mari was speaking in her opening address of the Global Forum on Gender Statistics held last Wednesday in Dubai and attended by UN women economic empowerment officials. Mari made clear that Emirati women currently represent 43% of the workforce, with nearly 66% as state employees, 30% in leadership posts and 15% in technical occupations. It should be noted that the UAE Council of Ministers has set up in 2015 the Gender Balance Council with the aim to reduce the gender gap at the workplace, achieve a gender balance in decision making positions and promote the role of women in all fields as crucial contributors to building the future of the country. Since its inception, the said Council has launched the gender balance indicator in government institutions, aimed at setting clear-cut mechanisms and benchmarks to monitor progress according to plans adopted by the Council. On the occasion, the Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said that increasing women’s effective representation and participation in the labor market and at various levels, would have its positive, collective and indiscriminate impact on the global economy and on all components of society. “We should be assured that the findings and recommendations contained in the report to be submitted to the Secretary General will undoubtedly enforce sustainable change in the conditions of women and girls around the world, and for the better,” Mlambo maintained. (Al Hayat, February 9, 2017)