Abu Dhabi: Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on Tuesday received members of the UAE Gender Balance Council.
Mona Ganem Al Merri, Vice-President of the council, presented an overview of the council’s goals, jurisdictions and plans as well as the role of its members.
She said the council aims to narrow the gender gap in all state sectors and support the UAE government’s endeavours to achieve high rankings in global competitiveness reports as well as to achieve gender balance in the decision-making centres and supports the UAE’s goal to become a global role model in gender balance.
It also seeks to enhance the role of women in the country and guaranteed women and men equal opportunities in all sectors which will pave the way for achieving key gender balance milestones.
Al Merri highlighted the global competitiveness reports on gender gap, including the gender inequality index, released by the United Nations Development Programme, and the global competitiveness reports that ranked the UAE among the top 25 countries by 2020.
She also gave a brief presentation on the initiatives of the UAE Gender Balance Programme, which proposed a comprehensive framework to review legislations and national policies that support women through the enhancement of the country’s educational system for both genders.
She pointed to the National Political Empowerment Programme, which is implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of the Federal National Council Affairs, to increase women’s participation in parliamentary elections.
