There is no glass ceiling: Al Gurg

Dubai: Clear vision coupled with time management will help women achieve the goals they set for themselves, there is no glass ceiling, said Dr Raja Easa Saleh Al Gurg, president of DBWC on Monday at Pledge for Parity 2016 Forum in Dubai on eve of International Women's Day 2016, which is globally celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity, with the theme titled 'Pledge for Parity'.

"Women no more have choice of career or family life but it is a combined challenge of giving the best to both and that is possible only after the women are empowered to meet the challenges. Today women have to multitask and that is possible with clear set of priorities they set for  themselves," said Al Gurg.

The Dubai Business Women Council, or DBWC, the official representative organisation for business women, both professionals and entrepreneurs, hosted, in partnership with the University of Wollongong Dubai, or UOWD, the Pledge for Parity 2016 Forum. The panel discussion event, in line with the theme for International Women's Day 2016, brought together celebrated women in business to discuss solutions on how men and women can work together to create equal opportunities at multiple levels of organisations' hierarchies.

"One of our current objectives is to encourage men and women in the UAE to discuss and explore the factors associated with females attaining, and succeeding in leadership positions across all sectors and industries within the UAE," said Al Gurg.

"Through our ongoing research collaboration with UOWD, we aim to make a contribution to the dialogue and debates surrounding gender issues and women in leadership positions within the UAE."

The panel discussion, which was moderated by Dr Payyazhi Jayashree, associate dean (Education) - faculty of Business at UOWD and principal investigator of the UOWD/DBWC Women and Leadership Research, was structured with a team of influential business women in the UAE including Dr Raja Al Gurg, Ismahane Eloufi, director General, ICBA, Rita Al Semaani Jansen, partner, Ince & Co Middle East LLP, Minelle Gholami, people director, Emrill Services and Dr Sami Kamel, general manager for Regional Strategic Marketing Organisation for GE Power.

The main objective of the panel discussion was to examine how men and women can work together to create equal opportunities for women at multiple levels of the organisational hierarchy and to address issues such as the leaking pipeline and the glass-ceiling. "We expect and hope that the discussions will generate ideas that would have the potential to contribute to public policy initiatives surrounding gender issues within the UAE," added Al Gurg.

- sandhya@khaleejtimes.com