During a recent meeting of His Highness with women leaders working in the civil and military sectors on the occasion of the UAE Women’s Day, the talk of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, may God protect him, expressed strong convictions on the part of our wise leadership about the important role of Emirati women in the overall development strategy of growth and development in the UAE.
The human element is an important foundation of development. It is a real wealth for the future of the nation. This principle is central in the development process since the founding of the state at the hands of the father the late His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. All development plans stem from and are directed towards the human element. It is the goal of any planning or implementation effort made on this good land. The tremendous quality value of this principle is that it encapsulates a lot of ideas and accumulates human experience and puts the human being at the center of the development process. So it becomes obvious that planning and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and other efforts are accurately directed towards the most precious goal: the human being. This deeply rooted development philosophy paid off. Indeed, citizens in the UAE, men and women, sense the importance of the attention the wise leadership pays to providing happiness, security and stability of living, as well as social and career stability for Emirati men and women, and their families.
His Highness’ talk also showed confidence in the UAE women’s ability to defy the odds and reach the position they deserve. His Highness asserted that women in the United Arab Emirates reached their natural place in the process of national development thanks to the vision of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan God rest his soul, who paved the way for women to make their way with confidence, and to overcome all odds and obstacles to build the nation with their brothers, the men. His highness also referred to the support His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, may God protect him, gives to Emirati women, a support stemming from his deep belief in their vital role in the construction, development and prosperity of the country.
The words of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also included indicators and signs of absolute confidence in Emirati women’s capabilities to take responsibility in various labor and production sectors. He asserted that women in the UAE have proved their worth and their efficiency, their excellence and success in leadership in many social, developmental, economic and political sectors.
There is an important message contained in the words of His Highness, a message worthy of in-depth analysis. The role of Emirati women in development was not a complementary one, as some specialists believe, but was and still is a major supporting role for national action. Emirati women added important and fundamental dimensions in the process of development and prosperity, through actual participation in all sectors of employment as His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said.
His Highness’ talk also involved a very important message of appreciation, support and encouragement for Emirati women. It is in fact a document for history. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, expressed during the meeting his pride in the UAE daughters and in their achievements and their honoring work in the process of nation-building. He mentioned his pride in the mothers of the martyrs as live honoring models “who imprinted on the memory of this good land the values of sincerity, loyalty and belonging. They are symbols of giving and sacrifice.”
Such meetings and the conversations and discussions involved in them reflect the well-established system of values in the UAE’s collective consciousness. Our local culture has a unique specificity. It gives women a great deal of prestige and responsibility, and bets on them strongly in the building and cohesion of society. This culture has played the most important role in the formation of our consciousness as citizens, which resulted in the importance given to the status of women and the appreciation of their role and the action of providing them with success and excellence for the benefit of society.
Those who visited the UAE or knew the nature of its people, easily realize that Emirati women are a central part of the work system in this society, and that the level they have reached is only a natural development in their historic march, which received unlimited care and support from inspirational historical leaders such as Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairperson of women’s General Union, Supreme President of Family development Foundation and Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and childhood, ‘Mother of the Emirates’. Her Highness is a real leader in the field of women, family and social work, not only at the local level but at the regional and international levels as well.
The meeting of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan with the leaders of the Women’s Action in the state constitutes a celebration of Emirati women on their day, and a strong and clear message that the wise leadership continues to support women and expects a lot of them. Our state bets on all its children, without distinction between men and women. Arenas of national action in various labor and production sectors attest that the Emirates have far surpassed any obsolete ideas about gender, or about the limits of women’s work specifically. Those betting on competitiveness in the Twenty First Century have to cope with challenges and overcome obstacles, particularly cultural and societal ones, and this is the message of the Emirates to its Arab nation, which is experiencing great difficulty at the developmental level.
