Gender equality in the workplace is necessary for healthy, successful economies – but the gaps between working men and women is widening around the world.
Differences in workforce participation, wages earned and leadership positions are increasing, the UAE’s permanent representative to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, told a conference in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
“The 2017 Global Gender Gap report reveals that for the first time since the World Economic Forum records began in 2006, the global gender gap is in fact widening,” Ms Nusseibeh said.
“Of 144 countries, the majority have closed 96 per cent of the gap in health outcomes between men and women – unchanged since last year – and then more than 95 per cent of the gap in educational attainment, which is a slight decrease compared to last year.
“However, the gaps between women and men on economic participation and political empowerment remains wide.
“Only 58 per cent of the economic participation gap has been closed, the lowest value measured by the index since 2008, and only 23 per cent of the political gap has been closed, unchanged since last year.
“Women across the world are still on average earning less than men by a large amount.”
Last year’s WEF report said that given current progress it would take 170 years to close the economic gender gap. This year that estimate was 217 years – a big step backwards.
“The UAE has long acknowledged the importance of investing in women to maximise their full potential for our country’s development,” Ms Nusseibeh said.
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“Research has found that the global GDP has the potential to rise by $12 trillion by 2025 by narrowing the global gender gap. In the Middle East and North Africa, this would mean an additional 50 per cent increase in our GDP by 2025.”
The ambassador was speaking at the Gender Dimensions of International Peace and Security: Keys to Prosperity and Peace conference.
Ms Nusseibeh said that women were consistently excluded from taking part in conflict resolution, despite bearing the biggest burden in war and the fact that their participation is critical to ensure peace.
“Fifty per cent of peace processes fail within five years, but when women participate there is a 35 per cent chance that peace will last 15 years or longer,” she said. “It’s because women go through this world with a unique set of experiences proving vital at the negotiating table.
“When men are alone at the table, the conversation tends to focus on issues of power and state, but women raise key issues of economy and social necessity, education, health, infrastructure and access to justice.
“These are often misconstrued as women’s issues but the lack of these can be a key driver towards fragility.”
Ms Nusseibeh said women were more likely to raise issues that directly affected all societies, on which a lasting peace could be built.
“This is important for diversity of thought,” she said. “When you bring together a group of people from a range of backgrounds, they consider a wide range of issues and generate [diverse] solutions.
“Gender equality and women’s empowerment are not just worthy goals to pursue but crucial to establish prosperous and stable societies.”
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Tolerance, said the paramount role of women in war zones and their participation in peace processes have become a critical element in solving crises and reducing violence globally.
“Women and men have equally important roles to play in society,” Sheikh Nahyan said. “Women have a critical role to play in resolving disputes and ensuring the success of efforts aimed at the peaceful settlement of resolutions that have beneficial outcomes for the world.
“Women have great capabilities and massive innovative potential that can represent a key element and critical factor in ensuring the safety and security of community.”
The number of women and children dying in conflicts and being driven into refugee camps is increasing drastically.
“It has become a phenomenon that we are living and requires us to urge the world to handle because they affect the world’s development,” said Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Co-operation.
“Poverty and economic decline are not only results of this but keeping women away and not allowing them to participate in decision-making.
“All this requires us to work together to face the traditional concepts that keep women away from helping communities so we have to face the stereotypes of women in conflict zones and enhance their role in solving crises.”
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
FINAL RESULT
Sharjah Wanderers 20 Dubai Tigers 25 (After extra-time)
Wanderers
Tries: Gormley, Penalty
cons: Flaherty
Pens: Flaherty 2
Tigers
Tries: O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
Cons: Caldwell 2
Pens: Caldwell, Cross
How to help
Donate towards food and a flight by transferring money to this registered charity's account.
Account name: Dar Al Ber Society
Account Number: 11 530 734
IBAN: AE 9805 000 000 000 11 530 734
Bank Name: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
To ensure that your contribution reaches these people, please send the copy of deposit/transfer receipt to: juhi.khan@daralber.ae
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
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Price: On request
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Torbal Rayeh Wa Jayeh
Starring: Ali El Ghoureir, Khalil El Roumeithy, Mostafa Abo Seria
Stars: 3
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
