UAE Gender Balance Council honours winners of inaugural SDG 5 Pledge Awards

Dubai: The UAE Gender Balance Council honoured the winners of the inaugural SDG 5 Pledge Awards at a ceremony held in Dubai. Launched last year by Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council and wife of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, the awards recognise organisations that have turned their commitment to gender balance into effective policies, practices and initiatives.

The ceremony was attended by Her Excellency Sana bint Mohammed Suhail, Minister of Family; Her Excellency Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council; and Her Excellency Mouza Mohammed Al Ghuwais Al Suwaidi, Secretary-General of the UAE Gender Balance Council; along with representatives from the public and private sectors and was held at One&Only One Za’abeel.

The awards comprised four main categories. Standard Chartered UAE received the “Champions of Gender Balance in Policies Award”, while Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) won the “Pioneer of Women’s Leadership Representation Award”. Schneider Electric received the “Exemplary Initiative Advancing Gender Balance Award” and Deloitte Middle East received the “Family-Focused Employer of the Year Award”.

Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum congratulated the inaugural winners, saying: “The UAE has established gender balance as a national priority and an enduring pillar of its development. This reflects our leadership’s vision, which has consistently emphasised the importance of investing in people and enabling everyone to contribute their talents and capabilities to building the nation’s progress and future.”

Her Highness added: “From the earliest days of the Union, our leadership recognised that women’s full and effective participation across all fields strengthens society, supports economic competitiveness and helps shape the future. This vision has delivered significant achievements, strengthening women’s participation across sectors and in leadership and decision-making roles, while reinforcing the UAE’s standing in regional and global gender balance indices.”

Emphasising the private sector’s essential role in sustaining this progress, Her Highness said: “The SDG 5 Pledge provides a practical model for this partnership, as organisations move from joining the initiative to developing policies and practices that deliver measurable results. We are proud of the organisations that have translated this voluntary commitment into meaningful initiatives and more supportive, diverse workplaces. We look forward to the winners’ experiences helping to expand the adoption of impactful practices and encouraging more organisations to embrace practical, sustainable solutions that support the UAE’s continued progress and leadership and strengthen its global standing.”

The event also saw eight national and international organisations join the Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) Pledge. Led by the UAE Gender Balance Council, the national initiative seeks to accelerate progress towards SDG 5, particularly women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities in private sector leadership and decision-making. It encourages companies to adopt organisational policies and practices that advance women’s representation in senior and middle management.

The new signatories are Veolia, Publicis Groupe Middle East, WPP, Epson, Havas, Stephenson Harwood, Augustus Media and Advertising Business Group.

Her Excellency Sana bint Mohammed Suhail, Minister of Family; Her Excellency Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council honoured the winners of the first edition of the SDG 5 Pledge Awards.

Her Excellency Sana bint Mohammed Suhail said that family friendly work environments are essential to enhancing quality of life and supporting sustainable participation in the workforce, while providing greater flexibility to accommodate family responsibilities.

She noted that the UAE has made pioneering progress in advancing gender balance, in line with the leadership’s vision of increasing women’s participation across sectors and leadership positions and ensuring equal opportunities. Her Excellency noted that the Ministry of Family continues to develop policies and initiatives that support work life balance, strengthen family stability and enhance quality of life, in line with the objectives of the We the UAE 2031 vision.

Her Excellency added that cooperation with the UAE Gender Balance Council reflects a shared commitment to advancing gender balance while supporting families. She highlighted the importance of recognising institutional practices that have delivered tangible progress, sharing successful experiences and encouraging organisations to adopt sustainable policies that support women and families.

She affirmed that the Family-Focuser Employer of the Year Award provides an important platform for promoting workplaces that enable employees to balance their professional and family responsibilities.

Her Excellency Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, said: “Growing private sector participation in the SDG 5 Pledge reflects the shift towards making gender balance an organisational priority, linked to stronger workplaces, business sustainability and the effective use of diverse talent. Each organisation joining the pledge brings experience and expertise that can support further progress. We therefore seek to make this initiative a space for collaboration and knowledge exchange, apart from a framework for commitment.”

Her Excellency added: “The experiences we celebrate today demonstrate that progress is achieved when a vision is translated into clear policies, measurable indicators and practices that make a tangible difference to employees and organisations. Through this partnership, we continue to support the private sector in developing solutions that create wider opportunities for women to contribute and advance into positions of influence and decision-making.”

Her Excellency Mouza Mohammed Al Ghuwais Al Suwaidi, Secretary-General of the UAE Gender Balance Council, said: “These awards provide a platform to exchange organisational expertise and learn from experiences that have proved effective, enabling the development of solutions and ideas that can be applied in other organisations. In the next phase, we will continue working with signatories to monitor progress, exchange knowledge on practical approaches and encourage more organisations to take meaningful, sustainable steps. This will support the creation of workplaces that make the most of women’s talents and provide wider opportunities for growth and career advancement.”

The programme included a panel discussion on translating organisational commitments into practical measures and results that can be tracked and measured. It explored organisations’ experiences in developing policies and initiatives that support gender balance, alongside the importance of data and indicators in monitoring progress, sharing successful practices and extending their benefits.

The discussion also examined the importance of integrating gender balance into a broader approach encompassing talent development, career pathways, women’s representation in leadership and family-supportive workplaces. This supports organisations’ efforts to draw on diverse talent and prepare for the future needs of the labour market.