Gender Balance Council to launch new legislation

dubai — The UAE Gender Balance Council is currently working on a new legislation to further strengthen the country’s gender balance achievements.

Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, revealed that the council’s efforts are in collaboration with related government entities, with a mandate to review and propose legislation that supports equal opportunities and narrows the gender gap across all sectors.

Knowledge-sharing

Sheikha Manal highlighted the Council’s commitment to exchanging knowledge and exploring the best global practices for gender balance. She praised the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (Mofaic) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF), with the latter organising the council’s meetings with the European Parliament delegation in Dubai.

Strategic plan moving forward

The UAE Gender Balance Council held its first official meeting of 2018, chaired by its vice president Mona Al Marri, at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Some of the strategic plan’s initiatives and projects were proposed during the UAE Federal Government’s annual meetings in September 2017. At the meeting, Abdullah Lootah, member of the UAE Gender Balance Council and Director-General of UAE’s Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, spoke about improvements and constructive partnerships to fulfil the fifth goal of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2030, ‘achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’.

The UAE saw increased ranking across gender balance indicators in many 2017 global reports.

It was ranked first worldwide in three indicators, including ‘property rights between genders’ in the Prosperity Index by Legatum Institute; ‘literacy rate’ in the Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum, and ‘secondary enrolment gender gap’ in the Human Capital Report by the World Economic Forum.