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In a meeting held yesterday (Sunday) at Dubai Business Women Council – part of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the UAE Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Committee has been officially launched, and the name of its committee and board member disclosed.
The WEPs Committee aims to bolster and stimulate gender equality in the institutions, marketplace, and community, so as to reinforce the UAE’s reputation as a gender balanced supportive environment.
The committee includes Hanane Arif, Head of Communication and CSR Société Générale Middle East (Chair of the UAE WEPs local network), Assia Riccio – Founder of Evolvin’ Women (Vice-Chair of the UAE WEPs local network), and Nadine Halabi, Business Development Manager of Dubai Business Women Council - DBWC (Secretary General of the UAE WEPs Local Network). Committee Members of the UAE Task Force include Anne-Charlotte Dagorn, Assystem Representative, Feryal Ahmadi, Chief Operating Officer, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), Dr. Belisa Marochi, Representative of Middlesex University Dubai (MDX), Esam Khoori, Executive Director – Container Terminals of DP World UAE Region, and Alka Winter, Vice President, Communications & PR – Middle East & Africa, AccorHotels
The Women’s Empowerment Principles (the “WEPs”) is a joint initiative of the UN Global Compact and UN Women launched in 2010 to provide guidance to business on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community.
The seven principles of women’s empowerment aim to bolster the advancement of gender equality, which will be positively reflected in the performance of companies and institutions, in particular, that aims at the integration of women in the workplace to contribute driving growth.
The WEPs Committee will undertake a number of initiatives in the coming months and will strive to make the Principles a reality. The committee will also strive to achieve internationally-agreed goals for development, sustainability and human rights, as well as calling on companies and organizations to join this engaging platform by bringing about change in their strategies and policies.
By signing the WEPs, each company is committed to engaging towards achieving gender balance within their organization. Improvements can be made through new policies, discussions with the high-level management and HR department, working on CSR initiatives, and other responsible practices. The WEPs committee is there as a connecting platform between the WEPs signatories Community and the UN Offices (UN Women and UNGC).
“By signing the WEPs your organization will be part of the impact of a global movement! I hope that corporates will not miss this opportunity to participate in the needed transformation of our world, the opportunity to have a positive impact on their employees, suppliers, customers and investors. I am calling all the “women agents” in the corporate world to push new ideas and initiatives to their management. I ask them not to wait for things to happen, but instead to make them happen!” said Hanane Arif, Chair of the UAE WEPs local network
In turn, Assia Riccio, Vice-Chair of the UAE WEPs local network, said: “I am honoured to have joined the UAE WEPs Committee as Vice-Chair. Having founded a social enterprise focused solely on women’s advancement, I feel the 7 Principles are firmly aligned with the mission of Evolvin’ Women. I feel obliged to play a role in promoting WEPs to the private sector in the UAE, share and learn best practices and achieve equality of opportunity through a joint effort.”
While Nadine Halabi, Business Development Manager – DBWC and Secretary General of the UAE WEPs committee, said: “The establishment of the committee comes in line with growing global efforts to reduce the gender gap in various areas such as career opportunities, professional development and payment of wages.”
“Under the leadership of HE Dr. Raja Al Gurg, President of the DBWC, the Council became one of the leading platforms that supports women’s empowerment in its mission, goals, initiatives and efforts to increase the employment opportunities for women entrepreneurs, and to eliminate the challenges that limit the progress of women in the workplace.”
“The UAE WEPs Committee constitutes a new era of women’s empowerment in her work and community. We are calling all companies to take part in this journey and join the WEPs,” she added.
The seven principles of women’s empowerment include; establishing high-level corporate leadership for gender equality, treating all women and men fairly at work – respecting and supporting human rights and non-discrimination, ensuring the health, safety and well-being of all women and men employees, promoting education, training and professional development for women, implementing enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women, promoting equality through community initiatives and advocacy and measuring and publicly reporting on progress to achieve gender equality.
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