NEW DELHI: United Arab Emirates Ambassador to India Ahmed Albanna stressed the importance of Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment while speaking with a group of women facilitated by Sanchita Mitra, National Coordinator for SEWA Bharat.
In the virtual meeting, the Ambassador said that the UAE is one of the most progressive societies when it comes to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, and the UAE constitution guarantees equal rights to all of its citizens and Emirati women.
“UAE’s achievement is perhaps best typified in the evolution and growing prominence of Emirati women as contributors and partners in the remarkable nation-building process,” he said.
“Over the last few years, the government of the UAE has made gender equality and women’s economic empowerment a top policy priority. In 2019, under the leadership of the UAE’s Gender Balance Council, the country introduced historic reforms to enhance women’s economic empowerment,” he added.
The United Arab Emirates became the first country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to introduce paid parental leave for employees in the private sector.
Further, the Ambassador mentioned that the UAE is one of the region’s best-performing countries having closed the overall gender gap by 66%. Over 77% of Emirati women enrol in higher education after secondary school and make up 70% of all university graduates in the UAE.
“In 2020, the UAE ranked 18 out of 189 countries in women’s empowerment according to the 2020 Human Development Report commissioned by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),” he said.
Earlier, the UAE had the highest number of women on Forbes 100 Most powerful Arab Businesswomen with 23 Emirati women on the list. Today 15% of board-level positions nationwide are occupied by Emirati women.
The UAE also leads measures of female empowerment within its diplomatic service. Including high-profile female ambassadors in major embassies such as the UN Mission in New York, France, Germany, Finland, among others. (ANI)
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