Abu Dhabi, UAE–Commending the UAE for being in the forefront of the drive to improve gender balance in the country, Iva Hamel, the World Bank representative in the UAE, said the UAE is the most progressive country in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of women’s empowerment.
She lauded the UAE’s commitment to supporting women’s role in the community and increasing their economic opportunities.
In her statement to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Hamel said that, the UAE has taken unprecedented measures to enhance its position in gender balance in the region, and has become the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to implement parental leave for fathers.
The country has also introduced legal provisions to ensure women receive equal pay and to prohibit gender-based discrimination in the workplace.
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Hamel stressed that the UAE has maintained its advanced position in the latest World Bank report, which monitors the efforts of governments to issue laws aimed at achieving women’s economic empowerment.
The annual World Bank report, which covers 190 countries, indicated that the UAE scored 82.5 out of 100 possible points across 35 sub-indicators divided into eight main areas of the report: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension.
It is noteworthy that the UAE is a regional and global leader in introducing legislation and regulations that support women’s rights and their role in the workplace.
The country’s commitment to this cause dates back to 2012 when the UAE cabinet passed a decision on the presence of women on the boards of government entities, making the UAE the first country in the region and the second in the world to introduce such binding legislation.
In 2015, the country announced the establishment of the UAE Gender Balance Council, a federal entity tasked with developing and implementing the gender balance agenda in the UAE.
The Council’s objectives are to reduce the gender gap across all government sectors and achieve gender balance in decision-making positions, as well as promote the UAE’s status as a benchmark for gender balance legislation.