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Mandating Gender Equality in UAE’s Boardrooms

Mandating Gender Equality in UAE’s Boardrooms

The UAE has prioritized gender equality in order to achieve its intended goal of a growth plan that is inclusive, sustainable, and balanced. To this note, it has been steadfast in introducing policies that implement greater female representation at the workplace.

Further, under Articles 9(3) and (4) of Securities and Commodities Authority’s (SCA) Decision No. (03 R.M.) of 2020, it was mandated that there must be a 20 % female representation on the board of directors of a Public Joint Stock Company (PJSC). This area has since been further supplemented by the SCA Board Resolution No. (08/R.M) of 2020 which now makes mandatory to appoint at least one female member to all UAE based boardrooms.

Notably, these reforms have had a positive impact on addressing gender diversity issues within boardrooms, while emphasizing on the need to have different perspectives in the decision-making process, to aim for a more balanced growth regime.

Finally, the UAE has also reaffirmed and recognized its urgency towards achieving its gender diversity goals across all workplaces. To this note, the SCA on April 1st 2020, released implementational guidelines and penalties under Article (82) of the Governance Code to implement increased female representation in the immediate short term

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