UAE hires more women than ever before, posts record jump in Global Gender Equality ranking

TOI World Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Jun 13, 2025, 18:20 IST

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The UAE has climbed to 69th in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report, leading the MENA region in gender equality. Women’s leadership hiring rose 4.5% year-on-year, defying global trends. UAE women are also more likely to possess diverse skills and AI readiness, with gains in political representation and workforce participation driving long-term progress.

UAE hires more women than ever before, posts record jump in Global Gender Equality ranking

UAE ranks sixth in Asian Women's Club rankings

The UAE has emerged as a global leader in closing the gender gap, with a sharp rise in women’s participation in top leadership roles, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025. The Emirates climbed five spots in the global ranking, from 74th to 69th, and retained its position as the top-performing country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This rise in gender parity is supported by LinkedIn’s Economic Graph data, which shows that women’s hiring into leadership roles in the UAE increased by 4.5% year-on-year, defying a global decline seen over the past year. Worldwide, the trend has reversed some of the progress made between 2015 and 2021, but the UAE is bucking the trend.

UAE Among Fastest Movers Globally

The report places the UAE in the “fastest-moving” group of nations, alongside:

Bangladesh
Chile
Ecuador
Ethiopia
Nicaragua
Mexico
Saudi Arabia

These countries have demonstrated the most progress in narrowing the gender gap across economic, educational, health, and political indicators. The UAE's gender parity score is now 0.724, ahead of all other MENA countries. It is followed by:

Israel
Bahrain
Jordan
Tunisia
Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
Oman
Lebanon
Morocco
Egypt
Algeria
Iran
Sudan

The Political Empowerment sub-index also saw significant improvement for the UAE. With a political parity score of 37.2%, the country now ranks 32nd globally.

The WEF report notes that the UAE, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Rwanda have achieved full parity in parliamentary representation, with Oman being the only country this year without any women in its national parliament.

Women in UAE: More Diverse, Skilled, and AI-Ready

Data from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph, also featured in the report, offers more insights into what’s driving the UAE’s strong gender performance:

Women in the UAE are up to 28% more likely than men to have multidomain professional experience, giving them a wider range of skills and greater adaptability for future jobs.
They are also more likely to possess human-centric skills, such as communication, collaboration, and creativity, that AI and automation cannot replicate.
Female professionals in the UAE are slightly more likely than men to focus on learning new skills and report greater confidence in using AI, based on LinkedIn’s survey data from early 2025.

This suggests that UAE women are not only rising in leadership roles but also preparing effectively for the evolving demands of the AI-driven economy.

Long-Term Gains and Global Standing

Over the 19 editions of the Global Gender Gap Report, the UAE has been one of the biggest improvers globally, alongside:

Iceland
Bangladesh
Chile
Ecuador
Mexico

In contrast, countries such as North Macedonia, Iran, Sweden, Kazakhstan, and Lesotho have seen the lowest overall gains in gender parity over time.

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