Private sector needs more women at the helm, says Gender Council

Mona Al Marri, the vice chairwoman of the UAE Gender Council, said at the Hawkamah Annual Conference in Dubai that "women are ambitious and ready to take on leadership" roles. Victor Besa for The NatiShow more

Businesses need to take further steps to increase gender diversity across senior management roles, said Mona Al Marri, the UAE Gender Balance Council’s vice chairwoman.

The private sector lagged behind female participation in the country’s public sector, as well as at Cabinet level, said Ms Al Marri at a conference in Dubai organised by corporate governance institute Hawkamah.

“It saddens me that gender diversity is often not at the top of corporate agendas [in this region],” she said.

“The winds of change are blowing, and believe me you don’t want to be left behind. It’s time for the corporate world in our region to rewrite their gender playbooks so that they can tap fresh perspectives and ideas from women.”

Ms Al Marri said that women accounted for 66 per cent of the UAE’s public-sector workforce and that women accounted for 30 per cent of decision-making roles in Dubai’s public sector.

In February, the UAE announced the formation of a new federal Cabinet containing an unprecedented eight women, including ministers for tolerance, community development, international cooperation and public education.

However, women account for fewer than 2 per cent of board members of publicly listed companies in the UAE, according to data from the Arab Women Organisation.

This compares with a global average of 16 per cent of board seats being held by women, rising to 25 per cent for top companies listed in London, according to Grant Thornton.

An electronic poll of Hawk­amah conference delegates conducted yesterday identified cultural biases within corporations as the No 1 obstacle to greater female board membership within the GCC.

Nearly two thirds of respondents in a Hawkamah survey of senior GCC executives believed that women needed to work harder than men to prove themselves. “The new generation of ­women entering the workforce in the UAE and the region are very different from their parents,” said Ms Al Marri.

“Women [today] are ambitious, ready to take on leadership and challenges,” she said. “Is the corporate culture of companies ready to support this rise?”

The Securities and Commodities Authority introduced new corporate governance regulations in May, requiring that women must make up at least 20 per cent of candidates for board membership positions at listed companies.

Companies that have no ­women board members are obliged to disclose the reasons for their policy to the regulator.

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