The UAE is moving ahead to be one of the best countries by achieving gender balance by 2021. Gender balance is one of the important milestones of the UAE Agenda and Vision 2021. The UAE seeks to provide equal opportunities to men and women in all fields to contribute to the national economic growth and fulfil its obligations regarding UN Agenda 2030 Goals.

In support of this successful journey, the UAE established the Gender Balance Council to set effective mechanisms to reduce the gender gap in all sectors. The council seeks to achieve gender balance in decision-making centres. It seeks to start initiatives and offer innovative ideas regarding gender balance to enhance the UAE’s ranking in the world competitiveness reports and its position as a reference for gender balance laws at the regional level.

To exchange experience and build fruitful partnerships with international organisations, the UAE Gender Balance Council developed the gender balance guidelines in cooperation with the OECD. They are the first federal guidelines, which deal with gender balance issues.

The guide provides practical steps to entities on how to enhance gender balance in their offices. It provides tangible procedures to enable the public and private sectors to promote gender balance in leadership positions.

It links the main procedures and the three progress levels, which evaluate the gender balance progress and achieve milestones. It describes how the UAE Gender Balance Council supports entities to achieve their gender balance goals.

As a culmination of the efforts exerted to achieve balance gender according to the guideline, H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honoured Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, with a medal for the Best Personality Supporting Gender Balance. He honoured Sheikh Abdullah in recognition for his strong support to women in the diplomatic sector.

He also honoured Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA) as the Best Federal Entity supporting gender balance. Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashmi, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Chairwoman of FCSA, received the ‘UAE Gender Balance Seal’.

Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) was honoured for the Best Initiative Supporting Gender Balance for its ‘Women in Boards’ initiative. SCA aims to increase female representation on the boards of public shareholding companies to 20 percent by 2020.