Gender equality in the workplace is necessary for healthy, successful economies – but the gaps between working men and women is widening around the world.
Differences in workforce participation, wages earned and leadership positions are increasing, the UAE’s permanent representative to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, told a conference in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
“The 2017 Global Gender Gap report reveals that for the first time since the World Economic Forum records began in 2006, the global gender gap is in fact widening,” Ms Nusseibeh said.
“Of 144 countries, the majority have closed 96 per cent of the gap in health outcomes between men and women – unchanged since last year – and then more than 95 per cent of the gap in educational attainment, which is a slight decrease compared to last year.
“However, the gaps between women and men on economic participation and political empowerment remains wide.
“Only 58 per cent of the economic participation gap has been closed, the lowest value measured by the index since 2008, and only 23 per cent of the political gap has been closed, unchanged since last year.
“Women across the world are still on average earning less than men by a large amount.”
Last year’s WEF report said that given current progress it would take 170 years to close the economic gender gap. This year that estimate was 217 years – a big step backwards.
“The UAE has long acknowledged the importance of investing in women to maximise their full potential for our country’s development,” Ms Nusseibeh said.
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“Research has found that the global GDP has the potential to rise by $12 trillion by 2025 by narrowing the global gender gap. In the Middle East and North Africa, this would mean an additional 50 per cent increase in our GDP by 2025.”
The ambassador was speaking at the Gender Dimensions of International Peace and Security: Keys to Prosperity and Peace conference.
Ms Nusseibeh said that women were consistently excluded from taking part in conflict resolution, despite bearing the biggest burden in war and the fact that their participation is critical to ensure peace.
“Fifty per cent of peace processes fail within five years, but when women participate there is a 35 per cent chance that peace will last 15 years or longer,” she said. “It’s because women go through this world with a unique set of experiences proving vital at the negotiating table.
“When men are alone at the table, the conversation tends to focus on issues of power and state, but women raise key issues of economy and social necessity, education, health, infrastructure and access to justice.
“These are often misconstrued as women’s issues but the lack of these can be a key driver towards fragility.”
Ms Nusseibeh said women were more likely to raise issues that directly affected all societies, on which a lasting peace could be built.
“This is important for diversity of thought,” she said. “When you bring together a group of people from a range of backgrounds, they consider a wide range of issues and generate [diverse] solutions.
“Gender equality and women’s empowerment are not just worthy goals to pursue but crucial to establish prosperous and stable societies.”
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Tolerance, said the paramount role of women in war zones and their participation in peace processes have become a critical element in solving crises and reducing violence globally.
“Women and men have equally important roles to play in society,” Sheikh Nahyan said. “Women have a critical role to play in resolving disputes and ensuring the success of efforts aimed at the peaceful settlement of resolutions that have beneficial outcomes for the world.
“Women have great capabilities and massive innovative potential that can represent a key element and critical factor in ensuring the safety and security of community.”
The number of women and children dying in conflicts and being driven into refugee camps is increasing drastically.
“It has become a phenomenon that we are living and requires us to urge the world to handle because they affect the world’s development,” said Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Co-operation.
“Poverty and economic decline are not only results of this but keeping women away and not allowing them to participate in decision-making.
“All this requires us to work together to face the traditional concepts that keep women away from helping communities so we have to face the stereotypes of women in conflict zones and enhance their role in solving crises.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 275hp at 6,600rpm
Torque: 353Nm from 1,450-4,700rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Top speed: 250kph
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: Dh146,999
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
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CREW
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERajesh%20A%20Krishnan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETabu%2C%20Kareena%20Kapoor%20Khan%2C%20Kriti%20Sanon%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Hoffenheim (11.30pm)
Saturday
Hertha Berlin v RB Leipzig (6.30pm)
Schalke v Fortuna Dusseldof (6.30pm)
Mainz v Union Berlin (6.30pm)
Paderborn v Augsburg (6.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (9.30pm)
Sunday
Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen (4.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
SC Freiburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (9on)
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
