Businesswomen urge legal reforms in GCC

A group of prominent women business leaders on Wednesday highlighted the changing landscape of women's entrepreneurship and its role in the GCC economies, calling for legal and administrative reforms for the benefit of the society, at a lecture hosted by the Dubai School of Government (DSG).

Organised as part of DSG's Gender and Public Policy Programme, the panel discussion titled 'Growing Aspirations: Supporting Women's Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf' was co-organised with Monitor Group and Al Sayedah Khadijah bint Khuwailid Businesswomen Center in Saudi Arabia.

The panel discussions covered a recent report titled 'Businesswomen in Saudi Arabia: Characteristics, Aspirations, and Challenges in a Regional Context'. Released in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf's largest economy, the report, authored by Monitor consultants Noura S Al Turki and Rebekah Braswell, captures fresh perspectives on the aspirations and challenges of businesswomen in Saudi Arabia as compared to other women entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa.

The DSG lecture emphasised on intra-GCC relations and frameworks to address important questions for women specially related to technology integration, legal and administrative reforms as well as access to regional and international markets.

The speakers and panelists included Dr May Al Dabbagh, Director of the Gender and Public Policy Programme, DSG; Noura Al Turki and Rebekah Braswell; Dr Basmah Mosleh Omair, Executive Director of Al Sayedah Khadijah bint Khuwailid Businesswomen Center; Samia Edrisi, Founding and Board Member of Businesswomen's Forum in the Eastern Province and CEO and Board Chairman of Eastern Forum Company for Advancement and Development; Raja Easa Al Gurg, President of Dubai Businesswomen Council and Managing Director of Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, and Fatima Al Jaber, Chief Operating Officer, Al Jaber Group and Chairwoman of Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council.