Municipality starts web page for women's welfare

As part of her commitment to encourage national women to play a major role in the development of the UAE, Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Ladies Club, yesterday launched the web page of Women's Action Team of Dubai Municipality on the municipality's portal.

Sheikha Manal attended a ceremony to mark the occasion at the Children's City auditorium yesterday. Sheikha Manal praised the initiatives of the team and expressed hope that they would achieve great success.

"The Women's Action Team web page aims to provide links to issues related to women, family, Islamic topics, nutrition, children and women's organisations. It also gives information on how to access the team in case there is any suggestion on working women," the chairperson of the team said.

The ceremony was also attended by the Director of the Dubai Press Club, the Director of Children's City and the municipality's female employees.

Engineer Hawa Abdullah Bastaki, Assistant Director of Administrative Development and Quality Department, dwelt on the significance of women's participation not only on the professional front, but also in social and volunteer work. Bastaki, who is also Head of Establishment Planning Section, said the team – established in 1999 – was presently focusing on women's work.

"The moral and material support extended to women by the leadership is a great support for them. The regulations prevalent for women, the increased facilities for education, overall social awareness among national women and the desire to participate in the development of our country have made the UAE hold a respectable position among Arab countries as far as women's progress is concerned," she said, urging the national womenfolk to continue improving on their intense achievements.

She said the wise and inspiring leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and all other leaders in the country had provided enough resources for national women to stride the path of progress.

She pointed to the excellent role played by Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the President's Wife and Chairperson of UAE General Women's Union, in providing national women the opportunities to realise their potential.

"In the municipality, the number of women employees has risen to 664 in 2002. These educated and capable women effectively contribute to growth and development in the UAE by performing the tasks entrusted upon them by the municipality and they leave the imprints of their work for history and future generations to witness," she said.

"This would not have been possible for us if various prospects and opportunities were not provided to us by Qassim Sultan, Director-General of the municipality, who offers a conducive atmosphere fit for women to achieve their potential."

Following the ceremony, Sheikha Manal made rounds of the exhibits at the Children's City and visited the Culture Section, Plane-tarium, model of airplane, Disco-very Centre, and Kids Play Area.

The Women's Action Team presented Sheikha Manal with a memento in appreciation of her presence during the web page launch. Pointing out that the municipality's move in forming a women's action team would strengthen equalisation between men and women in the fields of work, Bastaki said it would also improve women's professional performance.

Most female employees have university certificates, diplomas or high school certificates. Most of them work as administrative support officials and the rest in supervisory and skilled jobs.

The number of female employees who participate in training workshops of the municipality has gone up during the period 1990-2002. In 2001, they comprised 31.3 per cent of the total workforce who participated in the training courses. This shows that women in the municipality are getting more opportunities for training, said Bastaki.

As of October, the percentage of national females compared to national males was 35 per cent and the percentage of female employees of all nationalities compared to male employees is 11.9 per cent.