Emirati women’s remarkable progress

Chanakyapuri, the diplomatic zone of the national capital, is facing tough competition not only for being the most politically correct but also for being ‘cool’. In the golden jubilee year of its inception, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has performed exceptionally well in this fantasy competition between the diplomatic missions in New Delhi.

On the occasion of this 50th anniversary, the Ambassador of UAE to India, Dr. Ahmed Al Banna, revealed last week That 50% of their embassy staff are now women. Not only this. Women make up 30% of UAE ambassadors worldwide. Thirty percent of the country’s federal National Council, its part-elected, partly nominated parliament, are women. And 30% of the UAE’s cabinet is also women.

driving force

On January 1, 2022, when the United Arab Emirates begins its two-year elected term as a member of the United Nations Security Council, its seat will be taken by a female permanent representative, Lana Nussebih. The managing director of Expo 2020 Dubai, the world’s largest business and entertainment event since the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, is Reem Al Hashimi, the country’s Minister of State for International Cooperation.

In Scandinavia, no one would revisit such facts or figures. They will be accepted. But the United Arab Emirates is a young country, also an Islamic country, having received its first female bachelor’s degree only four decades ago. A notable aspect of such advancement by women in the Trucial States, which were groups of nomadic Bedouin settlers, when they joined a kingdom in 1971, is that the driving force behind the placement of qualified Emirati women into positions of responsibility. There is an elderly Sheikha, who had no formal education in the modern sense.

Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak is known as the “Mother of the Nation”. As India’s relations with the UAE turned into one of its most important foreign policy priorities over the past five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, impressed by the advancement of women in the UAE, invited Sheikha Fatima for a state visit. Although he did not hold any official government position. in the traditional sense. Unfortunately, the pandemic interfered with those plans.

In Chanakyapuri, diplomatic missions are doing a lot for gender equality. Canada recently appointed an Indian girl as its High Commissioner for a day. Other embassies or high commissions have been funding programs or providing training for women and girls on occasions such as International Day of the Girl Child. But there are only a few missions, such as the UAE, that can claim that half of their staff are women.

turn

The visit of Pope Francis in 2019 was a turning point for the UAE. This was the first visit by a pope to the Arabian Peninsula. About one million Catholics live and work in the United Arab Emirates. After the number of Filipino immigrants, Indians account for the majority of them. In Abu Dhabi, Pope Francis met with Sheikh Ahmed Al Tayeb, Grand Imam of Cairo’s Al Azhar Mosque, a source of religious instruction for Sunni Muslims. Together, they signed “A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together”.

The document inspired the construction of an Abrahamic Family House, which would have a Muslim mosque, a Jewish synagogue and a Christian church in the same complex on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island. The House is due to welcome worshipers of all three religions next year. There will be no temples on the premises as Hinduism is not an Abrahamic religion, native to West Asia. Elsewhere in Abu Dhabi, the foundation stone of a Hindu temple was laid in the presence of Mr. Modi during his visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2018. There was a murmur of publicity, official patronage and reservations about the ceremony. High profile given to the construction of a non-Abrahamic place of worship in the federal capital. Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is said to be the driving force behind the revitalized ties with India, countered those reservations with the argument that the Hindu temple permit strengthened the UAE’s claim. Did that it is most tolerant. Nations throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Soon after, the country’s leadership announced that 2019 would be observed as the “Year of Tolerance” with the aim of making the United Arab Emirates a “global capital for tolerance, coexistence and cooperation”.

it has become day To recall today, India’s relations with the Trucial States date back more than 4,000 years. Between admiring the distant past and praising the new progress in India-UAE relations, high-level engagements add precious nuggets that serve as milestones in maintaining the very special bond between the two peoples. Yes, should be forgotten.

lame mango gift

For example, India’s “common diplomacy”, which makes headlines from time to time, began with the visit of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the United Arab Emirates, to New Delhi in 1975. At the state banquet hosted by the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, the sweet was made from varieties of mangoes. The first president of the United Arab Emirates became openly curious about an item in a bunch of mangoes. The chef of Rashtrapati Bhavan told him that it was a lame strain of the fruit. Sheikh Zayed asked for other help. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi did not miss it. Six years later, on his visit to Abu Dhabi, he took several boxes of limp mangoes as a gift to Sheikh Zayed.

When APJ Abdul Kalam became the President of India in 2002, he visited the United Arab Emirates on his first foreign trip. In a speech at the Abu Dhabi Men’s College, he talked about tele-education, which later became his favorite initiative. The response to that speech helped lead to one of Africa’s most successful humanitarian missions: the Pan African e-network that has saved lives and spread business instruction. This is an Indian mission that deserves the Nobel Peace Prize someday. As the United Arab Emirates celebrates its golden jubilee, India’s relations with this Gulf state now encompass almost every sphere.

KP Nair is a journalist who has written about the United Arab Emirates since 1978, when he and seven others launched Dubai’s first newspaper. Khaleej Times