• Home

Women emerging as potent force in UAE

ABU DHABI - Women are playing an increasing role in the political and social life of the UAE. This is a major finding of the 2005 census, results of which were declared recently.

“The number of women is almost similar to that of men and this indicates more participation by women in the political and social aspects in the UAE society. This means women gain more liberties,” said Dr. Hafsa Al Ulma, General Supervisor of the Census.

Al Ulma, also a former Under Secretary at the Ministry of Economy, noted that the findings were significant insofar as it showed that the UAE family also depends financially on the participation and support of women.

“There are two girls in every three graduates and this signals the increasing percentage of working women and their numbers at leadership level in the coming period. We have now two ministers for economy and social affairs,’ ‘ she added.

However, she also drew attention to the flip side saying, with more women getting work there is a trend of rise in the age of marriage and percentage of spinsterhood and divorce.

This, she added, is a natural result of the transformation into a modern society. “What is important here is to address these concerns and not to turn our eyes away from them,” she affirmed.

The census showed that the young generation constituted 88 per cent of the UAE society. According to her, this calls for chalking out more plans and programmes to absorb them in the local market.

“The economic growth and the leadership’s future vision afford further assurances that hardships will be overcome,” she said, underlining that Emiratisation would gain more momentum in the next stage in order to create more job opportunities, mainly in the private sector which is required to introduce innovative approaches to attract nationals. To plug the current gap, she called for linking educational curricula with demand in the local labour market. She said that Microsoft had praised on its website the census in the UAE for using modern technology, saying that the UAE has become a model for the countries in the region. Around 88 per cent of the census researchers were women, which was yet another example of the growing role of women in the UAE society.

On why she was not invited to the Press conference for announcing the census findings, she said : The mere announcement of the findings in my presence or absence is a success in itself for me, for the census teams and the ministry of economy. “The findings of this effort is the most important thing at the end of the day and not the individuals. I have no reservations on this issue and the experiment in the census has added a lot to my practical experience,” she concluded.

• UAE