Accenture pledges to boost women in UAE leadership positions

Accenture has become the latest company to pledge to improve female leadership ratios in the UAE. 

By signing the pledge, Accenture’s Middle East branch aims to align with the United Nation’s (UN) fifth sustainable development goal, which aims to see 30% of women in leadership positions by 2025.

In signing the pledge, Accenture joins more than a dozen other multinational companies, including Boeing and Raytheon.

What does the pledge entail?

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are comprised of 17 interlinked objectives, with the aim of achieving “peace and prosperity” across the globe. The fifth goal specifically looks to achieve gender equality by empowering girls and women by 2030. 

However, the UN has recently shared that setbacks have occurred, likely to delay the process. In a recent progress report, the organisation states: “The world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030 and has been pushed further off track by the socioeconomic fallout of the pandemic. Women and girls remain disproportionately affected, struggling with lost jobs and livelihoods and derailed education.”

Accenture’s pledge will encompass five key elements to help achieve this: promoting gender-equitable through promotion and recruitment; equal pay and fair compensation, equitable cultures; and mainstreaming gender balance through company policies and programmes.

A fifth element of the pledge is transparency about progress, both with the government and with other participants, which so far total over 50 companies from numerous sectors. Throughout the programme, these companies are encouraged to engage in whole-group workshops and share best practices, challenges and creative policy solutions.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, UAE GBC President Sheikha Manal bint Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “Strategic partnerships between the government and the private sector are vital for achieving national goals at all levels. The inspiring UAE private sector pledge to accelerate the 5th SDG and enhance gender balance is a model for the region and the world.”