ABU DHABI // The women who have signed up for military service are living proof of their empowerment in this country, say the organisers of a special day to honour them.
On Friday, the UAE will mark its first Emirati Women’s Day, a national celebration of the role women play.
The event falls on the 40th anniversary of the General Women’s Union’s launch. The body has been crucial in supporting progress in gender equality.
Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, announced the event would be marked on August 28 from this year on.
Noura Al Suwaidi, director of GWU, said that the day would be “a badge of honour and pride and appreciation for Emirati women”.
“The UAE’s confidence that women are capable to carry out the responsibility as well as men is itself a matter of pride for all women in the country,” she said.
Women in the military deserved to be honoured in the first year of the celebration for “their courage and sacrifice that they provide to this country along with their brothers”, she said.
“The women of the UAE have been able to overcome the challenges faced and to enter the military realm with the support of the leadership and their own willpower,” Ms Al Suwaidi said.
She said that women had volunteered for military service, unlike many men for whom national service was mandatory.
The GWU had played its part in advancing and empowering Emirati women by ensuring they were at various local, regional and international forums, Ms Al Suwaidi said.
August 28 was also the date on which the Supreme Council of the GWU first started working under the leadership of Sheikha Fatima.
Samira Al Ameri, a marketing officer at the GWU’s heritage and craft industries department, has been working at the union since 1985.
Ms Al Ameri said the union was one of the few places she could find a job at the time.
She said that over the next 30 years she had seen huge advances in the role of women in society.
She said it was Sheikh Zayed, the founding President, and his wife, Sheikha Fatima, who had enabled this change.
“Emirati women have achieved all of their ambitions and outperformed their peers in other countries,” Ms Al Ameri said.
“The role of Emirati women has developed significantly in the last quarter of the last century, and has gained a new dimension with the development of the UAE.
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