According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report, the UAE ranked 120th out of 144 countries in terms of gender balance at workplace. This might look negative and contribute to the misconception of the gender disparity issue in the region, but according to a Partner at Pinsent Masons, it isn’t a criticism of the employment practices of the country but a reflection of UAE’s society. “You have 92% of adult males in the UAE working versus only 42% adult female employees. That has to be connected to the type of society that the UAE is”, said Luke Tapp. “We have a lot of expat families living in the UAE that were led to the UAE because of the husband’s role or the mothers that are struggling to get part-time work and maybe has child-care commitments and hasn’t been able to get into the private sector workforce. So I don’t think that statistic is reflective of the efforts of the employers to try to attract equality”, he explained.
Similarly, the average earning among male employees is much higher than that of female employees. “Again, that’s got to do with the history of the economy of the UAE that men have always worked here more so than women which has led to men earning more”, he defended.
What is interesting, according to him, is that despite the low ranking in gender balance, UAE faired extremely well in the equal pay for men and women category. “UAE ranks 2nd out of 144 countries for pay when you consider like-for-like roles. So if a female and a male are in the same role, they will be earning the same salary. So if you talk about fairness and equality, the really key criteria has to be that one and UAE is outperforming 142 other countries”.
In fact, a draft law for equal wages was approved by the UAE cabinet last year. “Article 32 of the labour law way back in 1980 says that women and men should be paid the same for doing the same type of job. And that’s ahead of most of the western jurisdictions”. He added, “The gender balance committee along with the royal family have prepared a draft equal pay law, which was accepted and approved last year and should be implemented this year”.
The Law on Equal Wages and Salaries for Men and Women will ensure that women have equal opportunities as partners in the UAE’s development, and to further empower women to lead future national strategies and ambitious projects.
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