Opportunities lead to empowerment, summit is told

The chairwoman of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority said there should be more diversity at the top to avoid creating obstacles for women.

DUBAI // Women in the region should be given a larger role in decision-making to enable them to become equal partners in all political forums, Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan said this week.

Chairwoman of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), Sheikha Bodour said there should be more diversity at the top to avoid creating obstacles for women.

“When we talk about obstacles, there are three main ones that impede women’s empowerment,” she said in a talk at the Government Summit titled Arab Women: From Vision to Leadership. “They are society, legislation and women themselves.”

She gave the example of children who are told from an early age that when they grow up they must choose between work and motherhood.

“It’s unfortunate because, as a mother, I have to choose every day,” she said. “We also prepare men since infancy, but we should say that behind every great woman, there is a great man.”

Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development, said the most important element for a society was women who are empowered and educated.

“It is the priority,” she said. “When a society doesn’t focus on female education, you see after a while that it does not provide women with enough opportunities. In the UAE today, we’ve seen that education for women has been a priority since the inception of the state and women were able to access many sectors because of education.”

She said the country focused on providing grants to educate girls in other countries.

“This is done in Pakistan and Yemen to achieve gender equality,” Sheikha Lubna said.

“There are special programmes that are the focus of many organisations and [they are] entrenched in the state’s principles.”

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, attended the talk.

“His presence is proof of empowering women in society and this, by itself, is the methodology adopted by the Government,” Sheikha Lubna added. “The UAE ranked first [in the region] in the Global Gender Gap Report issued by the World Economic Forum in 2013. Last year, the UAE also launched an initiative at the United Nations’ Human Rights Council encouraging the access of women to education.”

But policies need to be put in place to strengthen women’s role in the region.

“Policies send a strong message to society,” said Ghada Wali, Egypt’s minister of social solidarity. “But we need to support policies with legislation.”

According to a McKinsey study on GCC women in leadership, female representation in top management is less than one per cent.

“It’s very low globally, too,” said Princess Ameerah Al Taweel, of Saudi Arabia. “But we should have the ambition to reach at least two per cent next year. We need to remember that since our early history, men and women worked alongside each other and we need to develop that Muslim woman mentality.”