NEW YORK – 26 March 2021 – The UAE underscored its commitment to empowering women as partners and active contributors across all aspects of society during the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
The UAE delegation to the two-week hybrid meetings was led by Minister of Community Development H.E. Hessa Buhumaid and comprised delegates from the Ministry of Community Development, the UAE General Women’s Union (GWU), the UAE Gender Balance Council (GBC), the Dubai Women’s Establishment, and the NAMA Women Advancement Establishment. Discussions were centered on women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of gender-based violence, to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.
During the General Discussion, Minister Buhumaid said: “The goals achieved by the UAE have been made possible by the support of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the mother of the nation and the leader of the UAE’s efforts to empower women to bridge the gaps in the process to achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls.”
Additionally, Minister Buhumaid participated in a Ministerial Roundtable on good practices for achieving women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life where she highlighted the UAE’s more recent efforts on this front, including the Law on Equal Wages and Salaries for Men and Women and the gender parity achieved in the Federal National Council.
Moreover, during an interactive dialogue on building back better from the pandemic, Secretary General of the UAE GBC H.E. Shamsa Saleh outlined the country’s gender-responsive approach to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, and underscored that the key to a successful recovery lies with women’s full and effective participation in decision-making.
This year, the UAE also presented a voluntary national review under the session’s review theme “Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development”. Presented by H.E. Aisha Al Rumaithi of the GWU, the UAE highlighted recent legal and policy frameworks that have been introduced to eliminate gender-based discrimination and strides made to promote women’s leadership and participation in decision-making in both the public and private sectors.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the UAE’s GBC convened its fifth Global Gender Circle on women’s participation and leadership. A group of international gender equality experts from the public and private sectors shared measures their entities are employing to turn strategy into practice.
The Commission of the Status of Women is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. It meets annually for two weeks each March.