EU Parliament hails UAE’S success in women empowerment

DUBAI: A delegation of members from the European Parliament, headed by Anna Michel, Member of the European Parliament and Vice Chair of the Commitee on International Trade, expressed great admiration at the UAE’S successes to date in supporting women and advancing gender balance.

The delegation was received by Mona Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council and Shamsa Saleh, Secretary General of the UAE Gender Balance Council.

At the start of the meeting, Mona Al Marri introduced the history of gender balance in the UAE, emphasising that women’s empowerment began with the founding of the nation through the leadership’s commitment to women and girls’ education and health.

This set a strong foundation for expanding the commitmenttowomen’sempowermentacrossother realms including the economy, legal framework, and society more broadly.

She reiterated that gender balance and women’s support have been a core principle since the founding of the UAE in 1971, based on the belief of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan that sustainable development cannot be achieved without equal opportunities and the equal participation of both women and men, noting that the UAE constitution guarantees women’s rights to education, jobs and access to social and health benefits and establishes the principle of equality for all. Recent legislative reforms in the labour law and personal status law, which have both strengthened women’s rights and increased access to the labor force, were also highlighted as successful actions.

The EU Parliament spoke of the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020 – 2025 and their commitment to advancing legal protections for women and increasing women’s representation in leadership, including in the boardroom. Within the context of thisdiscussion,thedelegationexpressedadmiration for the measurable and sustainable actions taken by the UAE to bring women into leadership roles.

The delegation stated they would further explore and aimed to learn from the UAE’S quota approach for boards of directors and parliaments. Additionally, delegates expressed a desire to learn more about how the UAE is developing a home-grown, evidence-based gender-responsive budgeting model which will be implemented in the next budget cycle.

Mona Al Marri stressed that the UAE has made significant progress over the past 50 years in improving the status of women in the country and is now considered a leading example in supporting and empowering women, both regionally and globally.