Dubai: The United Arab Emirates has mandated the appointment of at least one woman to the boards of companies listed in the country, in a move towards empowering women and encouraging them to play greater roles in the country.
The requirement came into force after the securities and commodities authority’s meeting on Sunday.
According to Bloomberg, data on the exchange websites, the five largest companies listed on the Dubai financial market PJSC and the Abu Dhabi Securities exchange have 84 board members, but only three are women.
The regulator’s chief executive officer Obaid Saif Al Zaabi was quoted by the national newspaper, “We previously used to accept explanations if there wasn’t compliance, but now we are moving to make female representation compulsory, so now, there must be at least one female member on the board of any listed company.”
This move comes after the UAE’s central bank signed a memorandum of understanding with Aurora50, a UAE-based social enterprise working towards increasing female representation in the boards of public and private companies.