UAE Cabinet ruling calls for women on every board

By Seban Scaria | The 971 Report (Yahoo News)

The UAE Cabinet has made it compulsory for corporations and government agencies to include women on their boards of directors, daily newspaper The National reported on Monday.

The historic decision was announced on Twitter by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the report said.   

"Women proved themselves in many workplaces and today we want them to have a strong presence in decision-making positions in our institutions," Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

Women hold only 1.5% of board positions in listed companies in the GCC, the report said. 

The Cabinet decision was "the most important news in the history of Dubai Women Establishment," the daily quoted Shamsa Saleh, the Dubai Women Establishment (DWE), chief executive, as saying.

"We recommended this policy last month in our forum and it's been implemented this month," she said.

"It means that we have succeeded and Sheikh Mohammed is very happy about it."

Details of the new policy were not immediately available, but Ms Saleh said it is likely to recommend a ratio of women. 

The timing of Sheikh Mohammed's announcement was a surprise to her, so she did not know which parts of the policy the Cabinet had approved, she added.

Maha Al Mansouri, the associate director of human resources, at Masdar, also said she was surprised by the news but "really excited" to hear about the decision.

"This recognises women's efforts and helps involve them in the decision-making process. It will also help increase competition between the two genders," Al Mansouri was quoted as saying.

The decision was made at a Cabinet meeting to approve a draft law on small and medium enterprises (SMEs).