Women’s empowerment summit opens in Sharjah

SHARJAH / WAM

The first Women’s Economic Empowerment Global Summit (WEEGS 2017) was inaugurated on Monday in the presence of His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, his wife, Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of NAMA and Honorary Patron for Global Women’s Inclusion, and several high-ranking government and semi-government officials.
The two-day summit is organised by the NAMA Women Advancement Establishment (NAMA) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and is being held at Expo Centre Sharjah.
Themed ‘Women Excelling in Economy,’ the event brings together over 70 international experts, gender equality advocates, government and private sector representatives and over 1,000 participants. The summit’s attendees will discuss ways to increase female entrepreneurship opportunities, secure their interests across different sectors, and promote their involvement in the economy.
The opening ceremony began with a video that put into perspective the great opportunities for development, peace and prosperity the world is failing to capture due to its skewed
realities for men and women.
Thanking attendees from around the world for their enthusiastic participation at the summit, HH Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi said: “Investing in women and girls is key to sustainable development. The Women’s Economic Empowerment Global Summit is a celebration of women’s achievements around the world. It has been conceived as a catalyst for positive change. Over the next two days, we will explore new opportunities to advance women’s status in the economy, assessing the ground realities they face locally, in the region and the world.
“Research claims that engaging more women in the private sector will increase labour productivity by as much as 25 percent in some countries. This clearly shows that a substantial fraction of the world’s human resources remains untapped, barring them access to job markets and hampering their ability to enjoy equal opportunities.” Speaking of the achievements of the UAE in providing women equal opportunities to realise their full potential, H.H. Sheikha Jawaher noted that they account for 70 percent of university students in the country, represent 46.6 percent of the total workforce in government and private organisations and constitute 66 percent of the public sector workforce, of which 30 percent are in leadership positions.
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE Minister of Tolerance said, “WEEGS has given us a platform to galvanise our actions in making women a key component of society. Our country is a role model for successful initiatives in the development of women. Women
here are aware of their roles at
the workplace and society.
Through events like this, we will
take these accomplishments to greater heights.
“We look forward to hearing your thoughts and recommendations. Your experiences will be valuable to us in enabling women to play a pivotal role in the economy. Tolerance, inclusion and equality are our goals in alignment with the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. Allow me to highlight that women’s empowerment is a main priority in the UAE as it supports humanitarian development in general.”
The Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said: “Our partnership with NAMA has grown and strengthened since our meeting at the UN General Assembly in 2016. The UAE is one of the champions implementing the report of the UN Secretary-General and this summit is an example of how report’s recommendations are not just catching dust in an office shelf.”
Commending the way women have excelled in the UAE’s economy, she stressed the need for the same to be applied to the rest of the world. She noted that women need access to productive assets and resources, to technology, to equal pay, and need to be enabled to start and grow their own businesses as these are all strong indicators of women excelling in economy – the theme of the summit. She emphasised the need for women to live free from violence, free from fear at home or at work so that they can prosper without stress that comes with being
subjected to violence.
“We know that if women played an identical role to men in labour markets, as much as $28,000 trillion or 26 percent, could be added to the global annual GDP by 2025. This is a lot of money and represents a major impact on the economy of the world. It is us gathered here who are trying to make this a reality. We are here to assess and remove the multitude of restraints that women face step by step,” she added.
She discussed gender-responsive procurement as a way of encouraging businesses that are female-owned and run, noting that currently only 1 percent of goods procured globally fall in this category.

The UN Women initiative ‘Buy from Women’, encourages enterprises to do this and supports women-owned enterprises to produce goods that can be procured by both public and private sector companies.
The UN Women’s ‘He for She’ movement aims to involve men in removing the glass ceiling that hinders women from progressing in their careers. This is especially helpful for women who are at the bottom of the pyramid and are stuck with low wages and are weighed down by hierarchy.
Twenty government and private organisations based in Sharjah and the rest of the UAE, and international organisations with regional offices here came forward to pledge themselves to two Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), as part of the event. The pledged actions, due to be implemented before the next WEEGS in 2019, range from promoting education and professional training for women, to establishing high-level corporate leadership for gender equality and non-discrimination including recruitment, retention and promotion of women.
The bodies making the pledge were the Sharjah Media Corporation, Sharjah International Airport Free Zone, Sharjah Economic Development Department, Sharjah Electricity & Water Authority, Sharjah Education Council, Sharjah Tourism & Commerce Development Authority, Sharjah Investment & Development Authority, Sharjah City Municipality, Mubadala Investment Company; Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), Crescent Group & Gulftainer, The Abraaj Group; Sharjah Women’s Sports Foundation, Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, Ruwad Establishment; Global Thinkers Forum; Health Promotion Department (Supreme Council of Family Affairs); Women Dare @ 50+; Sharjah Museums Authority; and a group of corporates including Citi, Procter and Gamble, Accenture, Ernst and Young, and WeConnect International.
Participating organisations have undertaken these pledges on the understanding that they must directly support women’s full and equal participation in and benefit from the economy; outline a specific action, have clear and feasible objectives, and be able to show clear impact and results within a timeline of 24 months; and have specific quantitative or qualitative goals that can be monitored by them to evaluate progress over time.
NAMA and UN Women will follow-up on the progress of the pledged actions over the implementation period and until WEEGS 2019.