The Middle East has made significant progress in advancing gender diversity in the workplace through measures such as generous parental leave policies and flexible working arrangements. While the progress is commendable, experts believe that there are still hurdles to overcome to ensure greater representation of women in executive and board...

Hossam received an even harsher sentence of two years in prison. Some of her videos showed her dressed in a tight military uniform. In total, a dozen people have so far been arrested for "decadent content", said an interior ministry official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

Zarghami said he advised a "man who behaves harshly" towards a woman not wearing headscarf to "close his eyes if looking at her excites him". Zarghami was strongly criticised by ultra-conservatives in October after reportedly criticising the morality police.

The leadership’s vision to empower women has ensured that women are equal participants and major contributors to the UAE’s sustainable development journey, adds Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council at the 8th Dubai International Project Management Forum.

The International Organization for Migration said in an October report that "prevailing customs and traditions... limit women's activities to their domestic and nurturing role". Adel said such prejudices, as well as practical difficulties, posed a challenge to fulfilling her dream. A graduate of the University of Baghdad who specialised in...

The children returned to France on Tuesday were at the Roj camp in northeast Syria under Kurdish administration, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Iraqi and Turkish borders. They were placed with social services and the mothers will be brought before judicial authorities, the foreign ministry said, thanking "the...

PARIS, FRANCE - Thirty women political prisoners in Iran, including a Franco-Iranian academic and the daughter of a former president, on Sunday demanded an end to the executions of protesters in the country. "We, the political and ideological prisoners in the women's ward of Evin Prison, demand an end to the...

Dubai, UAE--The World Economic Forum (WEF) has selected the UAE's Gender Balance Council (GBC) as a knowledge partner to advance gender balance globally. The recognition reflects the UAE Gender Balance Council’s significant achievements, guided by the UAE leadership’s vision to create an environment that empowers and enables women to succeed...

In Egypt, the music industry remains male-dominated, while the country's cultural establishment marginalizes and even bans electronic music artists.

Global business leaders, CEOs, and innovators from around the world will gather in Davos next week to discuss what World Economic Forum (WEF) President Børge Brende described as an event to find solutions for a more cohesive world "so that economic growth could be achieved even in challenging times."

"A meeting of Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) is scheduled later today to consult and discuss how to tackle this issue," Tapiwa Gomo, public information officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told AFP.

TEHRAN, IRAN -  Iran's supreme court has ordered the retrial of two men, including a Kurdish rapper, who were reportedly sentenced to death over protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death, the judiciary said Saturday. Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin,...

Sharjah, UAE--- A Women under the age of 40 lead 77.6 percent of the women-owned businesses in the UAE, a survey has said. The survey conducted by NAMA Women Advancement, in partnership with UN Women, found that of the 1,000 female business owners who took part in the survey, 48.8...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates--Yemeni student Abir al-Maqtari dreamt of studying abroad but amid a tightening of restrictions on women, Huthi forces blocked her from leaving. The Iran-backed Huthis, who have controlled swathes of the Arab world's poorest country since seizing the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014, have increasingly enforced travel restrictions...

PARIS, FRANCE - Dozens took to the streets Friday in Iran's restive southeast, footage shared by rights groups showed, as a wave of protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death entered a fourth month. Protesters in Zahedan, the Sistan-Baluchistan provincial capital, chanted "Death to the dictator", taking aim at supreme leader Ayatollah...

The confirmation of an increased participation of women in workplace comes months after the TOP CEO Conference held in May 2022 had highlighted its economic justifications.

Young women in the MENA region are more likely to be in the workforce, while the GCC countries have seen advances in labor force participation, says the latest PwC report.

Hardening its stance on the dress code, Iran has fired a bank manager who served an unveiled woman, according to local media even as demonstrations triggered by the mandatory head covering rule shake the country. Women in Iran are required to cover their heads, necks, and hair.

Match fees are however separate from annual pay packets -- there will still be enormous differences between what men and their women counterparts earn.

Widespread street demonstrations sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died following her detention by morality police for allegedly breaching the country's strict Islamic dress code, are in their third week.

The country's clerical regime could slide towards a military dictatorship with IRGC holding the absolute sway, says Ali Alfoneh of Arab Gulf Institute in Washington.

In a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) study in the MENA accounting profession, 63 percent of women across each of the surveyed MENA regions report experiencing bias.

The UAE has ranked 26th globally and first in the Arab world in the 2021/2022 Human Development Report, which is published annually by United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Some $9.42 billion have been invested in the financial markets by Emirati women during the last eight months of the current year, according to figures shared by the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).

In a country where few women have formal jobs, the Cairo metro’s pioneering decision to hand over the controls of trains to women has invoked mixed reactions in commuters.

Two Moroccan diplomats have been suspended from their positions in Colombia after they were drugged and robbed by women they met on Tinder, a diplomatic source in Rabat told AFP on Friday. The men, an adviser and an accountant at the kingdom's embassy in Bogota, were recalled to Morocco and...

This expansion created new economic opportunities, narrowing the gender gap in account ownership, and building resilience at the household level to better manage financial shocks across the world, including GCC countries.

Kristalina Georgieva in a statement.said that the Washington-based organization would immediately begin implementing the strategy.

Only the GCC countries score high on the Index that measures women’s inclusion, justice and security in 170 countries. UAE was the highest ranked country in the MENA region.

International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that the gender gap in labor force participation in Jordan has led to a loss of $8 billion in the value of GDP in 2018.

Closing gender gaps remains a critical driver of national prosperity. Countries that invest in all of their human capital and make it easier for their populations to balance work and family life tend to be more prosperous. It may help overcome the current crises and accelerate a strong recovery, the...

The Gulf countries have taken several measures to increase the local employment, especially in UAE and Saudi Arabia. This week's TRENDS Infographic looks at job situation in the region.

This year's Hajj, the first large-scale edition since the guardian requirement was dropped in 2021, has taken on a different hue with thousands of unaccompanied women joining the rituals.

Christine Harb, CEMEA Vice President of Marketing at Visa, believes that the workplaces should offer the right flexible benefits for women to join.

In 2020, women held 3.5 percent of all board positions in the UAE. The next year, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) set a quota for all listed companies to put at least one woman on their boards by 2025. As of June 2022, women hold 8.9 percent of the...

The Moroccan women's basketball team hosted their Israeli counterparts for the first time on Wednesday in a quiet slice of sporting diplomacy played out in front of invited guests only. The friendly game, a first in the framework of sports cooperation since the normalization of ties between the two countries...

Unlocking trade for women's empowerment and sustainable development is not just the right thing to do, Okonjo-Iweala said

Bioethicists must support and advance the rights of women through new policies and ensure that established regulations and policies are implemented in support of patients. Bioethicists must also strive to alert practitioners to the social and cultural challenges, she adds.

An auto repair garage in Saudi Arabia is turning to an untapped source for new car mechanics: Saudi women, who just four years ago weren't even allowed to drive.

In writing history, men were not necessarily the best knowledgeable about women’s contributions to history, civilization, or life. They were more versed in their own concerns and priorities which left women’s interests on the margins. Arabian women remained hidden in the pre- and post-Islamic history of Arabia for a long...

The percentage of women on boards in corporate houses across the GCC countries is low, Christiane Schloderer, INSEAD Alumni Association's senior member tells TRENDS.

Although the number of female STEM graduates is high in GCC, this couldn't translate into proportionate increase in workforce, says Christine Harb from Global Brand Council at VISA.

War journalism takes its toll on media persons, but the qualities that characterize women may paint their work with extraordinary colors, says Arizh Mukhammed, a reporter for Skynews and speaker at TOP CEO.

Zar is one of the ceremonies among the few cultural practices in which women take center stage. Traditionally, the zar ritual would last several days and include animal sacrifices.

The Taliban on Saturday imposed one of the harshest restrictions on Afghanistan's women since seizing power, ordering them to wear the all-covering burqa in public. The militants took back control of the country in August last year, promising a softer rule than their last stint in power between 1996 and...

The FairBreak Invitational, featuring England captain Heather Knight, West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor and Pakistan's Sana Mir, opens on Wednesday.

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has achieved sixth place on the Best Workplaces List of 2022 – Small & Medium Organizations. The ranking is awarded by the Great Place to Work, the global authority that recognizes high-trust, high-performing workplace cultures. RAKTDA is the category’s highest placed government entity...

Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, the first woman to be an Emirati cabinet minister, opens up to TRENDS about changing perceptions, both in the UAE and abroad.

In the UAE, and the wider Arab world, many women have been successful in upturning the prevalent prejudice that a woman's place is in the home.

A woman burned alive by her husband, others shot dead by a father or a teenage brother -- bloody violence against women has spiked in northern Iraq's Kurdish region.