Dubai: The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) has set up a committee of women employees called "Hawa" or "Eve", to organise social and cultural activities for the staff.
The committee consists of 12 female staff from various sectors at the department. Some of them hold Ministry of Interior ranks while others are government employees.
Lieutenant Colonel Fatima Ali Al Sawaiya, Head of the DNRD Centre at Hyatt Regency, who also heads the Hawa Committee said: "We held a number of charity activities in support of the Palestinian people. We also have organised a number of lectures, but most importantly we are looking to improve the work of the female staff at the Department."
She said the committee is currently active in Dubai, but that it is looking to work with other emirates in various social and cultural activities.
First Lieutenant Mona Ayoub, head of the accounts section at DNRD and an active member of Hawa, said the committee helps empower the female staff and helps them gain their rightful place in the society.
"We are now very active and busy with useful issues. We learn how to exchange ideas and how to implement them. We are proud of what we are doing but we are still looking to give more," she said.
In Ayoub's opinion dealing with women can be challenging as it is hard to satisfy them, but the female customers are always satisfied at the DNRD, she said.
"In the past it was rare to see women coming to the DNRD because it was not that organised. Nowadays we have noticed that the number of female visitors is on the increase because of the privacy [with which] they are dealt with here," she said.
She said that there are now many female PROs of companies who visit the DNRD and that this had never happened before.
Ali Al Sawaiya said that with the support of the director general of the DNRD, who has put all his trust in the female employees, women are now achieving their best, which in return, will benefit the whole nation.
She said that in the past three years the system of work had completely changed at the department.
"The employees all are working hard in order to give their best to the Department and to the customers.
"We are happy in our jobs, but our main interest is [in] how to be very successful," Ayoub said.
"Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director General of DNRD, is supporting us. Earlier, there was only one female head of a section, but now the number has reached 20 female heads of sections," she said.
First Lieutenant Rawda Areef, Head of the strategic planning and evaluation section, agreed with Ayoub. "Female staff are promoted and are in high ranks," she said.
