In the media – The National – UAE businesswomen welcome new boardroom decision but say it ‘shouldn’t need to be law’

The UAE’s directive mandating private companies to appoint women on their boards of directors is a step in the right direction for enhancing gender diversity and boosting profitability, The National says.

However, companies should be more proactive in promoting inclusion without the need for legislation, analysts and business leaders the paper interviewed said.

The National quoted statistics from Aurora50 and Heriot-Watt University’s GCC Gender Balance Board Index 2024, that show women hold 10.8 percent of the board seats of publicly-listed companies in the UAE (133 of 1,231 seats) today.

“Gender diversity works both top-down and bottom-up”

Suzanne Locke

Content strategist, Aurora50

‘Forging a bigger generation of inclusive leaders’

Aurora50’s previous research showed women held 8.9 percent of UAE listed companies’ board seats in 2022, up from 3.5 percent in 2020 – with the quota for listed boards coming into effect in 2021.

The increase in numbers over the period shows that the quota system is effective in increasing female representation in corporate boardrooms over time, Suzanne Locke, content strategist at Aurora50, told The National.

The new directive for private companies will help “forge a bigger generation of inclusive leaders”, as gender diversity works from the top-down and the bottom-up as the corporate culture starts to change, Ms Locke said.

‘Incredible talent available’

“When you have a diverse board, it creates a diverse and inclusive company and that trickles on to impact the industry and society. You can build much more quickly a pipeline of female talent at the top,” she said.

“A more balanced board creates a much bigger culture of diversity and that changes the culture. It combats group-think and drives the company to be more competitive with a diversity of thought. It’s absolutely a business win. The companies perform better, they are more competitive and more innovative.

“As a company working with corporate women at the managerial level and C-suite level, we found that there is the most incredible talent available in the workforce in the UAE,” Ms Locke said.

Network earlier

“The problem is connecting that workforce with the boards and getting those women to be better known so that they can reach the top positions.”

Women need to start networking at an earlier stage in their career and become more comfortable with promoting themselves and their achievements, Ms Locke added.

Read full story at The National.

Find out more about NOORA, Aurora50’s network for corporate women