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Women play larger role

DUBAI - UAE women now enjoy much wider opportunities, especially to participate in public life.

While the government has been determined to actively involve women in the development process, some social hurdles – mainly a woman’s inability to pass her nationality onto her children if she marries a foreign national – still exist.

“Occupying a high post such as a minister, a judge or a member of the Federal National Council (FNC) is concrete evidence that the UAE has gone a long way in enhancing the women’s status in the country,” Fatima Al Mazrouei, member of the FNC, said in an earlier interview.

In the last Cabinet reshuffle, two more women were appointed to the Council of Ministers, bringing the total number to four.

On September 15 this year, the Cabinet appointed two Emirati women ambassadors for the first time in the history of the country.

In March this year, Khouloud Ahmad Jouan Al Dhahiri became the first woman to be named as a judge in the UAE, the second woman judge in any Arab country.

During last year’s Second Judicial Forum, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, gave orders to appoint women in the courts and Public Prosecution.

“There are no more off-limit fields for women,” said Mona Bou Samra, Director of Development of Media Programmes at the Dubai Press Club. “The society’s perspective of working women has turned more open and understanding.”

mary@khaleejtimes.com