ACCA, the global body for professional accountants, interviewed Aurora50’s Suzanne Locke in its AB magazine as it investigated what the new board quota for one woman per private-joint stock company (which took effect as of January 2025) meant for women in leadership in the UAE.
This decision extends the 2021 requirement for public joint-stock companies and represents a major step in the UAE’s commitment to advancing women in leadership roles.
The challenge is that boards and nomination committees often don’t know about the talented women in the UAE. Too many of these women simply aren’t in their circles.
Suzanne Locke, Aurora50
Ms Locke told the ACCA: “The challenge is that boards and nomination committees often don’t know about the talented women in the UAE. Too many of these women simply aren’t in their circles.”
She advocates combining proactive mentorship and targeted development to identify and prepare more women for board roles.
Aurora50 helps boards and committees connect with senior executive women who might not be in members’ circles through its 12-week accelerator for women who want to become board directors, Pathway20. It also helps women in management become more adept at networking to build those circles through its GCC corporate women’s network, NOORA.
Ms Locke believes male leaders can play a critical role. “Male executives can be great allies to senior-level women by mentoring them, giving them board exposure, and nominating them when seats open up,” she says.
Male executives can be great allies to senior-level women.
Suzanne Locke, Aurora50
Aurora50 helps men and women to build inclusive workplaces, work on allyship and unconscious bias and for women to build their leadership through its tailored corporate training, the Accelerator for Internal Management (AIM) and bespoke DEI Consultancy services.
Journalist Paula Naoufal writes in summary: “The UAE is demonstrating that inclusive leadership isn’t just a policy but a powerful driver of growth and innovation.”
Ms Locke ends by saying: “Gender diversity is a business imperative for the future of the UAE.”
The UAE has launched the ’20 for 2020′ initiative aimed at driving gender balance at board level, reports Arabian Business.
Speaking to Dubai Eye’s The Business Breakfast after the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority announced a quota of one woman per listed board in March 2021, Aurora50 co-founder Diana Wilde said the quota was “not tokenistic”.
Aurora50’s The Inclusion Summit 2023 was widely reported in the press MENA-wide in both English and Arabic.
