The decision by the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority to make women’s representation compulsory on the boards of all listed companies will promote gender diversity and improve business prosperity, female business leaders said.
The SCA on Sunday mandated all listed companies in the UAE to have at least one female director on their boards.
“We believe that this will result in progressive results not only statistically, but more importantly, this will translate to business prosperity,” Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, co-founder of social enterprise Aurora50, said.
“The strong link between gender-balanced boards with better governance and financial performance is well-established, both across academia and within corporate boardrooms.”
Achieving full gender parity in workforce participation in the GCC could add $830 billion to the region’s economy, or 32 per cent of gross domestic product, according to research by McKinsey & Company.
Currently, 28 out of 110 UAE-listed companies have at least one female director on their boards, but women only hold 29 out of a total of the 823 available positions, or 3.5 per cent of the total, according to Aurora50.
“Our hope is that boards will take this as an opportunity to review their nomination processes. It currently takes more effort to identify female talent, but the pipeline is available and growing,” Sheikha Shamma said.
Aurora50 established an initiative last year called Pathway20 that works towards increasing board-level female representation in the UAE, offering participants the opportunity to network with boards that need to appoint independent directors.
Across the GCC, only 14 per cent of 170 blue-chip companies monitored by State Street Global Advisors as part of its Fearless Girl campaign had a woman on their board as of April last year.
State Street Global Advisors began the campaign in 2017, targeting companies initially in the UK, US and Australia with no female representation. It extended this to Canada and Japan last year.
"Over the past four years, we have been actively engaging with companies on the subject of board diversity and, out of the 1,486 companies we identified as not having any woman on their board, 862 (or 58 per cent) have added a female director. We will continue our engagement and voting efforts in 2021," Emmanuel Laurina, head of Middle East and Africa at State Street Global Advisors and 30% Club Mena steering committee member, told The National.
Most boards in the GCC have been supportive of enhancing gender diversity but cite a limited pool of suitable candidates, according to SSGA's research.
Other obstacles to board diversity include excessive reliance on existing director networks and requirements that all director nominees have experience as a chief executive, it added.
The main obstacle preventing greater board diversity "is just a mindset", Joy Ajlouny, co-founder of start-ups Fetchr and Bonfaire, said.
“The fact that it has been said that there is a limited talent pool of women is ridiculous,” she said.
“Women are underrepresented on boards and have been for years. It is a fact that publicly traded companies with one diverse board member – a woman – saw a 44 per cent jump in their average share price within a year of going public, while those with no diverse board members saw only a 13 per cent increase in share price,” Ms Ajlouny said.
With the inclusion of more GCC equity markets in FTSE and MSCI emerging market indexes, State Street Global Advisors expects listed companies in the region to face more pressure from institutional investors to improve governance standards and gender diversity.
The Dubai Financial Market has been advocating the empowerment of women in capital markets in recent years through initiatives such as the eBoard platform that connects board candidates with listed companies, Hassan Al Serkal, chief executive of the bourse, told The National.
“As a publicly-listed company, the DFM has also been leading by example having women in its board formations since inception,” he said.
A report by credit rating agency S&P Global on Monday called for the strengthening of corporate governance practices in the GCC, but said gender diversity is improving.
"We see progress on gender diversity and expect to see more female involvement in senior management and board positions," it added, pointing to First Abu Dhabi Bank's recent appointment of its first female chief executive.
“Ideally, the boardroom should reflect the real world, where women make up 50 per cent of the population. Women should also make up 50 per cent of every board,” Briar Prestidge, founder and chief executive of Prestidge Group, said.
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
Aayan%E2%80%99s%20records
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Other promotions
- Deliveroo will team up with Pineapple Express to offer customers near JLT a special treat: free banana caramel dessert with all orders on January 26
- Jones the Grocer will have their limited edition Australia Day menu available until the end of the month (January 31)
- Australian Vet in Abu Dhabi (with locations in Khalifa City A and Reem Island) will have a 15 per cent off all store items (excluding medications)
Federer's 19 grand slam titles
Australian Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Marat Safin; 2006 bt Marcos Baghdatis; 2007 bt Fernando Gonzalez; 2010 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Rafael Nadal
French Open (1 title) - 2009 bt Robin Soderling
Wimbledon (8 titles) - 2003 bt Mark Philippoussis; 2004 bt Andy Roddick; 2005 bt Andy Roddick; 2006 bt Rafael Nadal; 2007 bt Rafael Nadal; 2009 bt Andy Roddick; 2012 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Marin Cilic
US Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Lleyton Hewitt; 2005 bt Andre Agassi; 2006 bt Andy Roddick; 2007 bt Novak Djokovic; 2008 bt Andy Murray
The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
Power: 70bhp
Torque: 66Nm
Transmission: four-speed manual
Price: $1,075 new in 1967, now valued at $40,000
On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Drishyam 2
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
Rating: 4 stars
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Oscars in the UAE
The 90th Academy Awards will be aired in the UAE from 3.30am on Monday, March 5 on OSN, with the ceremony starting at 5am
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
'The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure'
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, Penguin Randomhouse
more from Janine di Giovanni
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
Saturday's results
West Ham 2-3 Tottenham
Arsenal 2-2 Southampton
Bournemouth 1-2 Wolves
Brighton 0-2 Leicester City
Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool
Everton 0-2 Norwich City
Watford 0-3 Burnley
Manchester City v Chelsea, 9.30pm
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Specs
Price, base: Dhs850,000
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 591bhp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.3L / 100km
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
ENGLAND SQUAD
Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Ollie Pope, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes
