UAE | Government
Government offices will soon set up nurseries
Mothers who work for government agencies may soon be able to bring their children to their offices, the Ministry of Social Affairs announced yesterday.
- By Daniel Bardsley, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 August 5, 2006
- Image Credit: Gulf News archive
- The decree mandating the setting up of the nurseries permits donations, presents and unconditional trusts from individuals, organisations, establishments and companies.
Dubai: Mothers who work for government agencies may soon be able to bring their children to their offices, the Ministry of Social Affairs announced yesterday.
Social Affairs Minister Maryam Mohammad Khalfan Al Roumi said government offices that employ 50 or more women are now "encouraged" to construct nurseries in their offices,
She said offices with less than 50 employees may also coordinate with adjacent offices in putting up a common nursery area for them.
A WAM wire report said the nurseries should at least be able to accommodate 20 children.
Working mothers will not have to pay anything for use of the nurseries other than a "symbolic" registration fee to be set by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The decree mandating the setting up of the nurseries permits donations, presents and unconditional trusts from individuals, organisations, establishments and companies.
A separate bank account will be opened for each nursery, and the funds generated will be used to cover operational expenses.
Al Roumi also said that the the ministry's Family and Child Department will hold workshops in various government offices to explain the decree which is aimed at helping promote stable family life in the UAE.
The decree does not force ministries and establishments to set up nurseries. However, numerous ministries and governmental departments have conveyed their "readiness and desire" to create the nurseries, according to WAM.
Officials said the nurseries would represent "a step towards increasing women's productivity" because women will know their children are in "comfortable and safe surroundings" while they work.
Welcome relief: Nannies will soon be a thing of the past
Women in the UAE welcomed the decision to provide nurseries at government ministries and departments.
The number of women from overseas being employed in the UAE will be reduced as a result of the move, according to Dr Fatma Al Sayegh.
Dr Fatma, professor of UAE and Gulf History at the UAE University in Al Ain and a specialist in women's issues, said the nurseries would be "very important for women".
"If the government wants to encourage women into the workplace, this is an essential step. Women have been asking for this and I am really glad the government has done this," she said.
She said she hoped the private sector would "take a lead" in providing nurseries now that the government had decided to offer them.
Dr Fatma added: "This should have many, many important effects on society, such as reducing the increase in the number of maids. "The number of foreign employees is great because [until now] a working woman has to leave her house and bring in someone else to look after her children."
Sarah Salera, 37, a Filipino who has a son, said the nurseries would be "great" for those women who benefit from them.
"It's difficult to find nannies now so this will make life much easier for working women. I have a colleague who gave birth a couple of months ago and she burst into tears when she came back to work recently because she missed her daughter," she said.
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