UAE | General

Proposal to trim gender-economic gap wins support

Guests attending the Gender and Economics conference have lauded the proposal that seeks to shift land ownership from male nationals to a mutual ownership between the wife and husband.

  • By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:29 November 17, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • The study is being conducted in coordination with concerned bodies to activate the role of gender diversity, says Dr Maryam Mattar, Director-General, CDA.
  • Image Credit: Gulf News archive

Dubai: Guests attending the Gender and Economics conference have lauded the proposal that seeks to shift land ownership from male nationals to a mutual ownership between the wife and husband.

Dr Maryam Mattar, Director-General of the Community Development Authority (CDA), a newly launched Dubai government authority responsible for developing frameworks for social development, is currently revising a number of strategies that will take into consideration gender differences in the country.

"The proposed study is being conducted in coordination with concerned bodies to activate the role of gender diversity to be applied across all legislations," she said.

They have conducted about 2,500 surveys that highlight a range of gender specific issues. Before joining CDA, Dr Mattar was the first Emirati woman to assume responsibilities of Under Secretary of the Ministry of Health where she led and supervised several initiatives designed to make primary health care programmes.

Data collection

She gave her keynote address during the second day of panel discussions which highlighted gender and public policy teaching in the Arab world, and ways of improving data collection and creating linkages between government agencies and research organisations.

A number of academics at the conference urged the UAE to introduce gender and women studies into schools curriculum.

Dr Nawar Golley, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Arabic Studies, American University of Sharjah, who contributed in developing a minor in women studies at the institution said: "The country needs more courses and a developed major in these studies even though the government does not see the prospects of a career opportunity."

With regard to data collection in the Arab countries, Dr Ragui Bedoui, Professor at Hurbert Humphery Institute of Public Affairs in University of Minnesota, said that the Arab world is jammed with data which is largely under utilised.

Former president of the World Bank James Wolfensohn highlighted the influence of the current global financial crisis on the Arab world and pointed out the decrease of oil prices and its impact on various aspects of the regional economy, including the labour and real estate markets.

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