8 SEPTEMBER2025The UAE has implemented a wide-ranging framework to empower women that centers on overcoming obstacles, increasing opportunities, and enabling women to take on leadership positions in all sectors. This has strengthened the nation's competitiveness both regionally and globally.Major institutions such as the UAE Gender Balance Council and Dubai Women Establishment, with support from foreign parties, are spearheading efforts to develop Emirati women's leadership and facilitate their appointment to top jobs in both public and private spheres.Mouza Mohammed Al Ghuwais Al Suwaidi, Secretary-General of the UAE Gender Balance Council, explained to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) that the Council is making efforts to enhance women's engagement in the private sector and improve their representation at leadership levels.She added that inclusive approaches, created in partnership with major stakeholders, are at the heart of these initiatives.An increasing number of UAE and global firms have signed the "SDG 5 Pledge to Accelerate Women's Leadership in the UAE Private Sector", pledging to increase women's share in middle and senior management to at least 30 percent by 2025 for the first batch of signatories and 2028 for the second.UAE Gender Balance Council Strategy 2026 seeks further to narrow gender gaps between sectors, enhance the UAE's ranking on the global gender equality index, and make the country a role model for gender balance law.For these efforts, the UAE ranked first in the region and 13th in the world for the UNDP's 2025 Gender Inequality Index.CEO of Dubai Women Establishment, Naeema Ahli, highlighted that the push to promote Emirati women to leadership positions remains a fundamental task.The institution continues to formulate sophisticated training schemes in collaboration with leading international universities and institutions to enhance leadership capabilities, equip women for top management positions across the world, and improve their confidence in dealing with changing workplace dynamics. Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the UAE's biggest industrial company apart from oil and gas, announced today that Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC) joined its Challenger Programme as the latest company to do so.Launched in November 2023 under the patronage of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, the initiative has a vision to expand gender diversity in traditionally male-dominated sectors.Its vision is to unite top industrial partners to drive best-in-class equitable and inclusive recruitment practices, empower women in the workplace, and create future-looking workplace cultures.ENEC is also a strong advocate of gender diversity, and women hold 20 percent of the jobs--one of the widest proportions in the global nuclear power sector.Women play important roles in engineering, operations, nuclear safety, and leadership within ENEC. It also initiated the Barakah chapter of `Women in Nuclear' in 2014 and now chairs the Middle East chapter of the global organization.EGA itself has 714 women working for it in the UAE, over 330 of who have operating positions. Explaining the news, Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO at EGA, stated: "Attaining gender diversity in heavy industry is the key to unleashing the full power of our industry.The Challenger Programme was established to bring together companies with a similar vision to support and accelerate joint progress. We are delighted to welcome ENEC on board and learn from them."His Excellency Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO and Managing Director of ENEC, welcomed the partnership, emphasizing the importance of the contributions of women at Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant and to the development of the UAE's energy industry.Challenger Programme has nine of the UAE's top industrial companies. The programme also collaborates closely with NAMA Women Advancement, which provides strategic guidance and knowledge partnership. IN FOCUSUAE UNVEILS COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK TO ADVANCE WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENTENEC JOINS EMIRATES GLOBAL ALUMINIUM'S CHALLENGER PROGRAMME TO BOOST GENDER DIVERSITY
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