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The Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) celebrated Emirati Women’s Day, held this year under the slogan “Women: Ambitions and Inspirations for the Next Fifty Years” and under the generous patronage of Her Highness Mother of the Nation Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Al Nahyan, Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, and Chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood.
The celebration was held virtually in the presence of Her Excellency Dr. Maryam Butti Al Suwaidi, SCA’s Acting Chief Executive Officer; His Excellency Mohammed Khalifa Al Hadari, Deputy Acting Chief Executive Officer for Supporting and Institutional Services; Maryam Ahli, Director of the Licensing Department and Chairwoman of the Gender Balance Team; and all SCA employees. It included events that reflected the efforts Emirati women make on the path of excellence.
In her opening speech, Dr. Al Suwaidi expressed utmost gratitude and appreciation to the country’s wise leadership and the Mother of the Nation for believing deeply in Emirati women’s potential and providing them with all elements of success. They have placed women’s empowerment and gender equality at the top of their priorities and of the national agenda. Dr. Al Suwaidi also expressed her thanks to all SCA female employees for their remarkable efforts on the path to excellence and success.
“Following in the footsteps of our wise government, the SCA focused on promoting the status of Emirati women. It introduced a package of initiatives and issued decisions that have made a huge difference internally, within the workplace, and externally, in the securities sector in general, and across joint stock companies in particular,” Al Suwaidi reiterated.
“Internally, the SCA has been paying a great deal of attention to increasing women’s representation in managerial and supervisory positions. According to the most recent statistics, the percentage of females in managerial jobs stood at 23% while it amounted to 26% in supervisory positions and 33% in specialized posts. The SCA has been working to ensure gender equality in terms of wages, entitlement to benefits, education allowance, and official and training missions in the UAE and abroad. It has also provided health insurance to the family members of its female employees and spared no effort to provide all forms of support to the Gender Balance Team.”
“Externally, on the other hand, the SCA made sure to empower Emirati women and encourage them to play a greater role on the boards of listed public joint stock companies. It approved an amendment to its Decision No. (3/Chairman) of 2020 Adopting Public Joint Stock Company Governance Guide, which obliges all listed public joint stock companies, subject to the decision, to appoint one female at least to their board. The amended decision came into force on April 1, 2021, and contributed to raising the country’s ranking on competitiveness indicators,” she said.
“In 2017, the SCA won the Best Initiative Award for supporting gender balance in the UAE for its initiative promoting the representation of women on corporate boards. It also signed an MoU with Aurora50 in the presence of Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Co-Founder of Aurora50, and His Excellency Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Chairman of the SCA Board. The MoU aimed at fostering cooperation to enhance gender balance on boards of directors,” Dr. Al Suwaidi concluded.
