Ensuring a greater role for Emirati women: paper

(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM)) A UAE paper has said that the Cabinet approval for the setting up of the UAE Gender Balance Council to ensure greater role for Emirati women in all work fields is surely an admirable step that will boost the UAE's local and international status.

"The UAE government has always been in the forefront when it comes to ensuring that opportunities for education and training are open to all without any bias on the basis of gender," said The Gulf Today in an editorial on Monday.

Emirati women have also proven their skills beyond doubt in any role assigned to them in the service of the nation, including the Armed Forces, national service, police and security.

The Council decision has a noble aim, i.e., to reduce the gap between the two sexes at work in all sectors to achieve gender balance in decision-making and strengthen the position of the UAE in the Global Competitiveness reports in the area of the gender gap as well as make the UAE a role model in the gender balance.

"In fact, the results of empowerment are already reflecting on the ground. Today, women account for nearly 70 percent of all university graduates in the country and fill around 60 percent of government jobs, providing ministers in the cabinet and also members of the Federal National Council," the paper added.

Interestingly, Dubai boasts the region's first specialised museum totally dedicated to the women of the UAE. The Women's Museum is concerned with all aspects of their lives and with the historical and social contexts prior to the oil age.

H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation and President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, has announced that the celebrations of Emirati Woman Day, which will kick off on Aug.28, will be allocated for honouring Emirati women in the Armed Forces, in recognition of their heroic role.

As Sheikha Fatima points out, Emirati women have been enlisting in the Armed Forces in droves despite the fact that they are not obliged by any law to do so. This certainly reflects their loyalty to the homeland and the leadership.

"It is absolutely clear that the latest cabinet decision will help achieve more equity between genders and carry on the legacy of the Founding Father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, a man who set an example for empowering women and unleashing their potential," concluded the Sharjah-based daily.