Abu Dhabi: Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Supreme Chairperson of the Family Development Foundation and Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, said the achievements by UAE women have made them an important part of the development process.
These achievements and gains reflect a bright future and promise more in the coming years, Shaikha Fatima said in an interview with Al Mar'a Al Youm (woman today) magazine, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary.
She said the development of women in the UAE started when the late Shaikh Zayed became the Ruler of Abu Dhabi in 1966.
"A woman becomes successful when supported by governments and foundations of civil society, and here in the UAE, women became key members of development due to the support of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan," Shaikha Fatima said.
"Emirati women have four ministerial positions now, which is among the highest rates in the Arab world. They also have 9 out of 40 parliamentary seats, which is one of the highest women's representation rates in the world," she said.
"In 2008, the first batch of Emirati judges and public prosecutors was appointed, as well as the first two female ambassadors. "We have over 12,000 businesswomen running 11,000 investment projects worth over Dh12.5 billion," she said, adding that the UAE laws consider women equal to men in all walks of life.
"Women have the rights of work, social security, ownership and business management. They also enjoy education, health and social care, equal salaries to men, as well as maternity leave, which is guaranteed by the civil service law," she said.
Shaikha Fatima said the General Women's Union has launched a series of projects in the past years most notably the "Women and Technology" project, aimed at empowering women in information technology and the "National initiatives to integrate social gender in the UAE", to strengthen partnership between the General Women's Union, government institutions and non-governmental organisations for the integration of women's issues in the development process.
Regarding the media, she said the Arabic media plays an important and essential role in serving women's issues by implementing the Media Strategy for Arab Women and there is no doubt this implementation will contribute in making a quantum leap in the image of Arab women in the media.
"We believe the achievements of Arab women are big compared to what is happening in the rest of the world today in terms of the status of women, especially in developing countries," she said.
"We are convinced and confident that we and the First Ladies of the Arab and foreign countries will overcome obstacles that obstruct Arab women's joint action," Shaikha Fatima added.
