Among the indigenous people employed in the state apparatus of the UAE, the majority are women. They occupy more leadership positions than local men.
According to the Minister of Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikhs Lubny al-Qashimi, the number of women in the private sector has grown significantly in recent years. In 1986, for every thousand emirate entrepreneurs, there were only 96 women. Nowadays, indigenous emirates make up more than a third of local business representatives. The Minister, who received the International Women's Achievement Award in India in April, acknowledged that local women have to overcome many obstacles to recognition, in particular due to discrimination by profession.
Women in the Emirates make up 49 percent of the indigenous population. The Emirate woman first joined the government in November 2004, when Sheikh Lubna al-Qasimi received the minister’s portfolio. The new government, formed in February 2008, already includes four women. The UAE is the second in the Arab region for the representation of the weaker sex in the government. Emirates is second only to Morocco, where seven women hold ministerial posts.
In schools, the number of students exceeds the number of students. In universities, girls make up 65 percent of students. True, it should be recognized that among the Emirates studying abroad, young men make up the vast majority, since rare families allow their daughters to study abroad.
The Council of Women Entrepreneurs in the country has 10,400 people, according to Al-Ittihad. 4,095 of them work in Dubai, 2,700 in Abu Dhabi, 3,000 in Sharjah. The capital of women entrepreneurs is 3.4 billion dollars. They are invested mainly in real estate.
