The Gender Balance Council’s new move aims to achieve the UAE’s target of a 20 per cent female presence in corporate boardrooms.
The UAE Gender Balance Council recently held its second meeting for 2017 to discuss a variety of topics, including the preliminary results of the Gender Balance Index (GBI) across federal government entities, pension entitlements for the families of deceased female employees, the Council’s brand identity, and updates on the UAE Gender Balance Guide.
In a key move – taken in line with the UAE Cabinet’s decision to make women’s representation on companies’ boards of directors compulsory – the Council have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) to enhance the participation of women on the boards of listed companies.
This move will support the UAE’s National Key Performance Indicators and is aimed at strategic partnerships to enhance female participation in the workplace and achieve the UAE’s target of a 20 per cent female presence in the corporate boardrooms of listed companies by 2020.
Over the past three months, the Council collaborated with a number of national committees to support its objectives, including the National Committee on Sustainable Development Goals 2030, the Executive Teams of the National Agenda 2021 and Project Number One.
During the Council meeting – led by Council vice president Mona Al Marri – Council members reviewed GBI’s preliminary results across federal government entities through a presentation provided by the Prime Minister’s Office’s team. It featured survey details of more than 64,000 federal government employees.
