Picture shown is for illustrative purposes only.

At a time when quite a few countries in the world are paying lip service to equality for women, the UAE is surging ahead remarkably in promoting gender equality and seeing that women play a key role in the nation’s growth.

The UAE’s commitment to the empowerment of women stems from the legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and is being upheld by the wise leadership now.

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Emirati women have been one of the cornerstones of the nation’s development since it was founded in 1971.

Emirati women have proved that they are no less than their male counterparts, whether it is in the field of science, education, politics or aviation.

In fact, even outer space is not the limit for the Emirati woman’s ambition. This is evident from the fact that out of the 4,300 persons who have applied for the UAE Astronaut Programme, 1,400 are Emirati women. This was declared in a tweet by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Sunday.

A vew of Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.

In the tweet, Sheikh Mohammed said, “Today, I received the statistics of applicants for the #UAE Astronaut Programme… We will soon announce the next two Emirati astronauts. 1,400 female Emiratis and 130 Emiratis with PhD are among the 4,300 applicants. We are proud of their passion and desire to achieve.”

Hazzaa AlMansoori became the first Emirati in space last year when he embarked on a successful eight-day mission to the International Space Station.

Registrations for the second batch of Emirati astronauts opened in December 2019.

In December 2017, Sheikh Mohammed launched the UAE Astronaut Programme to find the country’s first ever space traveller.

Emiratis from all walks of life were encouraged to apply and, in the end, 4,022 men and women between the ages of 17 to 67 had done so. These hopefuls were eventually whittled down to two, after rounds of training, testing and interviews.