Women on corporate board of directors now mandatory, announces the UAE
Major move for girl power…
In a new announcement by the Ministry of Economy, the UAE has now made it mandatory to have women in the board of directors for private joint-stock companies, starting January, 2025.
Firms are now required to have at least one woman on seat in the board of directors once the current terms are over. This comes as a move to increase and expand representation of female talent in the corporate world.
The Ministerial Resolution No.137 of 2024, which addresses the regulation of private joint-stock companies’ governance and operations, is built along the same lines of directives previously applied for public joint-stock companies.
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This move was first implemented for public joint-stock companies in 2021 by the Board of the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), whereby at least one seat had to be allocated for women in companies listed in Abu Dhabi and Dubai stock markets.
Balance and equality in the boardroom has been a flagship concern for the UAE government, and several other initiatives have been put in place to work towards this eventual goal.
In 2018, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the then-President of the UAE issued directives to authorities to allocate 50 per cent seats for women in the Federal National Council. In another decree issued in 2020, women and men in the UAE are also required to be paid equally for the same job.
The initiatives of Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council and wife of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court aim to raise female representation in leadership roles to 30 per cent by 2025.
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