Most UAE companies still dominated by men – survey

Most UAE companies are still dominated by men, according to a new report by job site Monster.

In a survey of 2,000 men and women carried out for International Women’s Day the company found that just over half of respondents were employed in male-dominated organisations.

Two thirds (66 per cent) also reported to male managers and 70 per cent said their employer had an uneven ratio of male to female workers.

The UAE climbed from 124th to 120th in last year’s gender gap report by the World Economic Forum but it and the other Gulf countries remained near the bottom of the 144-nation ranking.

Read: UAE, Bahrain, Saudi rise, Kuwait, Qatar fall in gender equality ranking

Monster said its survey showed 60 per cent of respondents felt their organisations were making “considerable efforts” to ensure gender parity.

Three quarters of respondents said gender equality should be a top for companies and half said it should be a key priority.

“While we have made considerable progress in breaking down gender diversity barriers, there is still room for improvement,” said Monster.com CEO for APAC and the Gulf Abhijeet Mukherjee.

The UAE has set a goal of becoming one of the world’s top countries for gender diversity by 2021.

Dubai-based ride hailing service Careem said on Thursday it would make more effort to hire female drivers after admitting it had focussed on male employees.

“We realise that up until today we have focused our efforts predominantly on attracting and catering to male Captains,” said Careem CEO and co-founder Mudassir Sheikha.

The company said it aimed to hire 20,000 female drivers by 2020

Read: Dubai’s Careem to hire 20,000 female drivers after admitting male bias