Special Features
The Second Arab Women Leadership Forum
The Arab Women Leadership Forum is the annual conference organized by The Dubai Women’s Establishment (DWE). The DWE’s mandate is to contribute to the economic and social development of the UAE through gender sensitive policy design, research, leadership development programs, and networking events. Through these initiatives, the DWE aims at creating opportunities to engage UAE women in the country’s development process. The DWE annual conference is an opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of outstanding individuals and organizations that have contributed to advancing women’s leadership worldwide.For the second year in a row, the Dubai School of Government’s Gender and Public Policy Program has joined the DWE as knowledge partner for their annual conference titled “Women’s leadership in organizations: Towards new conceptions of work-life balance”. The program aims to contribute to the academic scholarship on gender and public policy in the Arab world while simultaneously incorporating gender perspectives in the training and education of leaders taught at the Dubai School of Government.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, the two-day conference is comprised of a series of panels, and will host distinguished speakers and leading intellectuals, providing an opportunity for participants to learn, engage in challenging discussions, and network. Through the collaborative efforts of this conference, the Dubai Women’s Establishment and the Dubai School of Government’s Gender and Public Policy Program aim to contribute to finding solutions towards closing the gender gap in leadership in the Arab world.
Concept
In light of the current state of the global economy, improving organizational effectiveness is essential for maintaining a steady work-life balance. In order to understand and overcome these constraints, this year’s conference will focus on the issue of work-life balance and organizational and government policies affecting the equilibrium between family and work. This incorporates the Dubai Women Establishment’s strategic dual focus of improving the situation of women in the economy and closing the gender gap in leadership in the UAE.
The conference aims to discuss the constraints and challenges many women face in balancing work and household responsibilities, and exploring the interventions that allow for women, men, and families to strike a positive balance between the two. Since work-life balance is a global issue faced by women all over the world, the conference features success stories of tried and tested innovative governmental and organizational policies in different countries. In addition, the conference will focus on several over-arching issues concerning work-life balance and a variety of other important personal and individual constraints.
The conference starts with an overview of issues concerning work-life balance. This introductory discussion will include speakers from all subsequent panels in order to discuss overarching conference themes and the relationships between them.
The first panel of the forum explores successful childcare initiatives and draws from local experience to report findings from work done by the Dubai Women’s Establishment’s National Childcare Center (NCC) towards improving childcare policies in the workplace. The second panel focuses on policymakers perspectives towards work-life balance in the region, and will feature legislators, members of parliament, ministers, and policy makers from across the region to discuss their respective governments’ gender equality laws and ‘women-friendly’ work policies.
The second day shifts to more nuanced perspective of work-life balance. It begins by examining work-life balance through a negotiation lens exploring how men and women negotiate for opportunities and resources at work and at home. The second panel of the day takes a novel approach to work-life balance and examines the role of men in achieving this balance in a globalized world. Issues addressed in this panel will include flexible working schedules; strategies men develop to balance work and home responsibilities, and examples of successful organizational work-life balance policies.
The final panel of the forum addresses more practical solutions towards work-life balance and directly addresses the issue of women’s re-integration into the workforce. This panel draws on the work of successful policy-making bodies and organizations that help women re-integrate into the workplace, in addition to organizations which have initiated programs that help women transition back to work (on-ramping) after leaving for a short break.
Forum’s Objectives
-To enhance women’s skills and competencies necessary for UAE needs and strategic priorities
-Promote the leading edge practices in area of women leadership
-Provide opportunities to get innovative solutions to local pools
-Provide an opportunity to learn, engage in challenging discussions, and network
-Build networks that strength the women leadership knowledge, experiences and skills
Target Group
-Interested organizations which target Women Leadership Development.
-Leading female figures from the UAE, GCC and Arab world.
-Officials and representative from local and regional women organizations.
-Current & Potential local and regional leaders (Female & Male).
-Local Leadership Programs members.
-Young Emirati youth (female and male) from educational institutes.
-International organizations focusing on women issues.
-UAE working women.
The event will be held on 12-13 January 2010, Grand Hyatt Dubai
Website: http://www.awlf.ae
