UAE passed 11 laws in 2 years to empower women

The UAE and the rest of the world will celebrate the annual International Women’s Day (IWD) on Monday (March 8).

In 2019 and 2020, the UAE approved some 11 new laws and legislative amendments to strengthen women’s rights and ensure their overall empowerment.

This year’s theme for the IWD, “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world,” celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Women are among the key target categories in term of prevention and protection procedures adopted by the UAE, underscored by the implementation of teleworking procedures for pregnant women and mothers of students up to the ninth grade.

The UAE’s efforts are not limited to protecting women locally, it has also launched many initiatives aimed at protecting women around the world, most notably through the women’s health telemedicine clinics of the Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Volunteering Programme, which is the first global telemedicine initiative that provides free diagnosis, treatment and prevention services for women, in addition to UAE’s humanitarian aid to many countries, prioritising women and children.

In terms of political participation, President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a resolution in 2019 to raise the representation of women in the Federal National Council (FNC) to 50 per cent during the 2019 elections.

WAM