The UAE has developed a comprehensive framework for women’s empowerment, adopting a systematic approach to address challenges, expand opportunities and prepare women for leadership across multiple sectors. These efforts have strengthened the country’s competitiveness regionally and globally.
National entities, such as the UAE Gender Balance Council and Dubai Women Establishment, have contributed significantly to developing Emirati women’s leadership capacities and facilitating their advancement to senior posts in both the public and private sectors, in cooperation with leading international organisations.
Speaking to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Mouza Mohammed Al Ghuwais Al Suwaidi, Secretary-General of the UAE Gender Balance Council, said that the Council is intensifying efforts to increase women’s participation in the private sector and raise their representation in leadership positions. This, she said, is being achieved through strategies and initiatives aimed at creating inclusive and balanced workplaces, in partnership with strategic stakeholders from both public and private sectors.
She highlighted that a number of national and international companies operating in the UAE have joined the “SDG 5 Pledge to Accelerate Women’s Leadership in the UAE Private Sector”. These companies have voluntarily committed to raising women’s representation in middle and senior management roles to at least 30 percent by 2025 for the first group, and by 2028 for the second group of companies that have recently joined the initiative.
The UAE Gender Balance Council Strategy 2026 aims to further reduce the gender gap across all sectors, enhance the UAE’s ranking in global competitiveness reports on gender equality and achieve gender balance in decision-making positions, as well as promote the UAE’s status as a benchmark for gender balance legislation.
In this context, the UAE ranked first regionally and 13th globally in the 2025 Gender Inequality Index published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Naeema Ahli, CEO of Dubai Women Establishment, said that advancing Emirati women’s leadership remains one of the organisation’s key priorities. She noted that the Establishment continues to design and implement advanced training programmes to build leadership skills for women across sectors, while also preparing them for senior roles in international organisations through specialised programmes developed with global institutions and universities with expertise in executive and leadership education.
She added that these programmes aim not only to provide women with modern leadership knowledge and skills, but also to strengthen their understanding of leadership dynamics in changing work environments and build their confidence in decision-making roles.
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