UAE leads way in Forbes’ Middle East list of most powerful Arab women

Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister for International Cooperation and Development, is the region’s most powerful woman in government. Lucas Jackson / Reuters

The UAE has topped two of the three main categories of this year’s Forbes Middle East 200 Most Powerful Arab Women.

Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister for International Cooperation and Development, won top slot in the list of the most powerful women in government.

A total of 26 women from the Emirates featured on the list of 200 drawn from government, family business and executive management.

The UAE dominated the family business category with Raja Easa Al Gurg, managing director of UAE-based Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group securing first place.

The category also includes Fatima Al Jaber, the chief operating officer of Al Jaber Group and Amna BinHendi, the chief executive of BinHendi Enterprises.

It is also in family businesses that women are most likely to rise to prominence, with 43 per cent of all entrants, 85 in total, from family businesses across the region.

Overall Egypt accounted for the highest number of entries at 29, followed by Saudi Arabia with 27 and the UAE with 26.

Further in the corporate world, 56 women in c-level positions made the Forbes list including Kuwait's Sheikha Al Bahar, deputy group chief executive of the National Bank of Kuwait and Lebanon's Nayla Hayek, chief executive of the luxury watchmaker Swatch.

Women are becoming better represented not just in the business world, but also in politics across the region. Of the 200 in the list, 59 were women in government positions.

With the introduction of female members to Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, the formal advisory body last year, the kingdom had an unprecedented nine entrants in this category.

The results underscore increasing female participation in the workforce in the kingdom, which this week opened its first all female business process service centre. The Riyadh-based venture between Saudi Aramco and Tata Consultancy Services will create 3,000 jobs for Saudi women over the next three years.

"Not just regionally, but worldwide, there is still much to be done to engineer a level playing field between the sexes," said Khuloud Al Omian, the editor in chief of Forbes Middle East.

“But by showcasing the achievements and unlimited potential of Arab women, we are one step closer to balancing the equation.”

Female workforce participation stands at an estimate of 24 per cent in the Middle East, according to Forbes Middle East.

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