Female leaders strive for gender balance

dubai — Women leading businesses are more likely to achieve gender balance in the workplace, said Emirati female experts.

Speaking at an event hosted for Emirati Women’s Day, Fatma Hussain, chief human capital officer at Tecom Group said: “Female leaders are aware of the importance of gender balance and continue to improve certain policies to make women grow in organisations.” She highlighted the increase of female newcomers in the organisation that is 30 per cent females compared to 69 per cent males.

Given women’s diverse responsibilities towards their families and society as a whole, Hussain said: “We noticed high retention levels across female employees who start a family despite their high performance, so we adjusted our maternity leave with the public sector [90 days], and introduced more flexible timings for women with children,” said Hussain, noting that different facilities are also provided to pregnant employees.

Echoing similar sentiments is Dana Kamali, senior manager at corporate sustainability Mena at HSBC, who stressed on the importance of women giving back to society and other females. “When a woman reaches a good position, she has to help bring other women up,” said Kamali. She said adding flexible working hours can also help improve female employment and contribution to the country’s economy.

sherouk@khaleejtimes.com