The UAE managed to maintain the momentum in its positive performance in the global report on gender gap 2020, ahead of Tunisia and the top country in the region, according to the global report on gender gap 2020, released by the World Economic Forum today.

This has witnessed many of the country's performance indicators in the report, which indicates the continued Emirati work to bridge the gender gap, and make more efforts to achieve gender equality at various levels.

According to the report, the UAE has so far managed to bridge 65.5% of the gender gap, and has managed to achieve better gender parity in the Political Empowerment Index, which has witnessed a progressive surge from 112 to 75 globally since the report began in 2006.

The overall rate of equal pay for female and male workers in the Emirates has improved.

The past 12 months have witnessed a progression rate of four ranks in the indicator of the number of females working in leadership and administrative positions in the country, and the educational attainment index has progressed at a rate of six points.

The UAE’s progress in its overall ranking in the gender gap report is an inevitable result of the state’s government working continuously to enhance gender cooperation through a set of initiatives aimed at empowering women in all fields, enhancing the work environment, and providing equal opportunities for women in the public sector, In addition to developing and enhancing the role of women as major partners in building the country's future.

The UAE has witnessed many tangible results as a result of these initiatives, including the assumption by women in the UAE of running half of the businesses in the SME sector, the opening of the first military school for women, which is Khawla Bint Al-Azwar Military School, and the election and appointment of nine female members out of a total of 40 Member of the Federal National Council, the appointment of four women judges, the appointment of two women to the position of public prosecutors, and 17 of them to the post of assistant prosecutor and legal authorized. Moreover, the proportion of women in the diplomatic service in the country has reached more than 20%.

In June of this year, the decision of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, to raise the percentage of women’s representation in the Federal National Council to 50%, has come into effect, which was directly reflected on the performance of the UAE in the political empowerment index.

Commenting on the Emirati performance, Director of the New Center for Economy and Society, Roberto Crotti, said: "The UAE managed to improve its performance in the global gender gap index, to be the first Arab in the 2020 edition, and during the past year the country was nearing parity in the health and life indicators and educational attainment and contracted The gap in terms of economic participation and political empowerment. "

Kruti added: "The number of women ministers in the UAE reached in 2019.

The labor market is witnessing similar progress, as the percentage of women participating in the labor force increased from 41.6% to 52%, while the percentage of women in high positions increased from 12.5% ​​to 15.8%.

The Global Gender Gap - Analytics

Despite the positive performance of many countries in the region on a number of indicators of gender equality, and they closed an average of 0.5 points from the gender gap since last year, the MENA region got the lowest global average.

Assuming the same rate of progress continues, it will take about 150 years to achieve gender equality. The top three countries in the region were the United Arab Emirates, which closed 65.5% of the gap, Kuwait, which closed 65.5%, and Tunisia, which closed 64.4%.

Globally, the Nordic countries continue to lead the process of achieving gender equality. Iceland is still the top country in the world achieving gender equality (87.7%, followed by Norway (in second place 84.2%), then Finland (in third place, 83.2%), and Sweden comes Fourth (82%). Other economies within the top ten include Nicaragua (fifth place, 84.2%), New Zealand (sixth place, 79.9%), Ireland (seventh place, 79.8%), and Spain (eighth place, 79.5%), Rwanda (ninth place, 79.1%) and Germany (tenth place, 78.7%).

This must be noted that the global performance of society has witnessed a general improvement during the past year, and that improvement can be attributed to the noticeable increase in the number of women participating in political life, with women around the world occupying 25.2% of parliamentary seats in 2019 Representatives and 21.2% of ministerial positions, compared to 24.1% and 19%, respectively, last year.

According to the report, the major part of the gender gap was closed in the areas of educational attainment, health and survival, with records of 96.1% and 95.7%, respectively.

As for the main global problem, it is still in the field of economic participation, as the gap widened in 2019 and exceeded the percentage recorded in 2018 to reach 57.8%.

Simply looking at the progress made since 2006 when the World Economic Forum first began measuring the gender gap, bridging this economic gender gap will take 257 years compared to 202 years last year!

According to current global performance, the data indicate that closing the gender gap completely will take 99.5 years, while achieving gender parity in the areas of health, education, work and political life will require more than a lifetime.

Commenting, Founder and CEO of the World Economic Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab, said: "Supporting gender equality is critical to ensuring the creation of strong, cohesive, and resilient societies around the world. As far as business is concerned, diversity plays a key component. That is why the forum works Global economist with business and government stakeholders to accelerate efforts to bridge the gender gap. "

As for the head of the Center for New Economy and Society and member of the World Economic Forum's board of directors Saadia Zahidi, she commented: "To achieve equality in the next decade instead of the next two centuries, we will need to mobilize resources, focus leaders’ attention, and commit to goals in the public and private sectors. Working as usual will not The gender gap, so we must work to achieve the positive cycle that equality creates in the economy and societies. "

The center of the new economy and society

This report is part of the World Economic Forum's work for the New Economy and Society, which aims to build dynamic and inclusive economies and societies that provide opportunities for the future for all. This center would serve as a platform to understand and anticipate emerging economic and social trends, to adapt policies and practices to the rapid developments taking place in the world.

Much of the center’s work is devoted to forming frameworks to bridge economic gaps between the sexes, promote diversity, and promote inclusive growth. In particular, the Center acts as an accelerator of a global network that includes regional endeavors to bridge the gender gap, which aims to increase the participation of women in the workforce, bridge the wage gap between men and women, help more women in leadership positions, and achieve gender parity in a future Work and enhance the efforts of individual companies through global trade commitments to accelerate gender equality.