Stressing on the importance of encouraging Emirati women to work in all sectors, Khawla Al Mehairi, Chairperson of the Women’s Committee at the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), pointed out that the UAE has the highest percentage of women graduates in the GCC and the highest percentage of women in the workplace.

She was speaking at the second sitting of the new members of the Women’s Committee on Sunday.

The event was attended by Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dewa; Dr Mona Bahar, Member of the Federal National Council and Assistant Director-General for Care and Community Services at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children. Al Mehairi added that currently, the total number of female employees at the Dewa is 981 with roles in all sectors and departments. This number constitutes 11 per cent of all staff recruited by the authority. Meanwhile, Emiratis account for 77 per cent of the total female workforce. There are 200 Emirati female employees working in the Dewa’s technical branches and 556 in the administrative sectors. The Women’s Committee was established in 2010 and its primary responsibility is to educate the society about the importance of women in the workplace, who are managing their personal and professional lives, remarked Al Tayer.

Also speaking at the event, Dr Bahar quoted instances of her life in the United States when she was pursuing her PhD. She said that it was a very tough route for her as an Arab woman, and she had more challenges to face as compared to her colleagues.

“When we started in 2010 and according to the statistics from the HR division, there were around 756 women employed at the Dewa. This has increased in the past two years. Now, there are women working in various divisions. It is not just Customer Service, HR or Marketing, but we have several women in the technical field and are working head-to-head with their male counterparts,” said Al Mehairi. The committee holds several activities, events, talks, lectures and awareness programmes to educate women on health and family life.

She said the committee works very closely with the Dubai Association for Women and Children and pays close attention to women who have been victims of domestic abuse. Such cases are taken very seriously and the committee gets involved with other agencies to help them out. “We provide these women with a platform to network and opportunities to maintain a work and family life balance. We give them with all these facilities because there is a huge lack of knowledge among the women here,” she said.

She also noted that since the inception of the committee, the female workforce of the Dewa has improved drastically. “We take a great interest in women’s issues and with the introduction of these initiatives, the productivity of women in various departments has increased considerably,” added Al Mehairi.