Aurora50 Loader
Aurora50 Logo

15 American companies sign SDG 5 pledge

15 American companies sign GBC's SDG 5 pledge in November - image courtesy Dubai Media Office
Suzanne Locke 8 December 2022
Share
 
Fifteen American companies operating in the UAE have pledged to put women in 30 percent of their local leadership positions by 2025.
Some 24 major local and international private-sector companies in the UAE have already signed the UAE Gender Balance Council pledge this year.
The pledge is known as the SDG 5 Pledge to Accelerate Women’s Leadership in the UAE Private Sector. The UAE has aligned its vision to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs): SDG 5 is gender equality.
The 15 companies that signed the pledge in November are:
  1. Emerson
  2. Accenture
  3. L3Harris
  4. Mediclinic Middle East
  5. Fragomen
  6. Boeing
  7. Oshkosh Defense
  8. Lockheed Martin
  9. Raytheon
  10. EVAP Investment
  11. Viatris
  12. Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
  13. Andaz Capital Gate Abu Dhabi
  14. Grand Hyatt Abu Dhabi
  15. NYU Abu Dhabi
Actions in the pledge involve:
  • Fostering a culture that encourages all employees to achieve their full potential
  • Ensuring equal pay and fair compensation
  • Promoting gender-equitable recruitment and promotion
  • Making gender balance ‘mainstream’ through company policies and programmes
  • Being transparent about progress with the other companies involved in the pledge and with the government.
The new tranche of 15 companies are all members of AmCham Abu Dhabi.
GBC-Pledge-companies

‘Milestone moment’

HH Sheikha Manal bint Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, president of the UAE Gender Balance Council, president of Dubai Women Establishment and wife of HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Court, said: “Through the willingness of the companies to sign the SDG 5 Pledge to Accelerate Women’s Leadership in the UAE Private Sector, the UAE will be able to utilise this important public-private partnership to bridge the gaps in gender balance.”
HE Mona Al Marri, vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, added, “This is a milestone moment. Some of the largest American companies in the UAE, in strategically important sectors, are publicly committing to meeting the 30% target. I commend you for prioritising this within your organisations and for recognising the numerous benefits of more equitable leadership ranks.”

Growing your women as leaders

“Mid-level women need opportunities, and access to the type of experience they will need higher up,” Aurora50 co-founder Diana Wilde says. “Then, on top of this access, we need to encourage women to step forward, to inspire and educate them to take on those roles.”
One of the biggest issues for mid-level women, she says, is getting access to key executive skills such as profit and loss (P&L) or budget experience, which are ‘musts’ for executive roles. It is also important to start women early, to create a lengthy C-suite pipeline, she adds.
Find out more about NOORA, Aurora50’s network for corporate women.

Related posts

  • Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, president of the UAE Gender Balance Council

    UAE private sector commits to 30% women executives (SDG 5 pledge)

    As 18 UAE private companies – including Dubai Holding, Mars and PepsiCo – commit to putting women at the top, Aurora50 gives its view on building the pipeline of female business talent

  • First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) building

    MSCI upgrades FAB to ESG leader

    Investment research firm MSCI upgraded First Abu Dhabi Bank’s (FAB) environmental, social responsibility and governance rating from A to AA in April, putting it in the ‘leader’ category – in part due to the bank joining Aurora50 as a corporate partner for the Pathway boardroom accelerator programme.

  • Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan

    Sheikha Shamma first GCC woman to take special climate role

    Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, co-founder of Aurora50, has been appointed by the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center to its Women Leaders in Energy and Climate Fellowship, the first woman from the GCC to do so.