DUBAI, Mar 8 – The proportion of women in the United Arab Emirates workforce exceeded 14 per cent last year, a far cry from the less than three per cent level of the the early 1970s, a government-owned daily said on Monday.
"Starting from less than three per cent in the early 1970s, women\’s share of local jobs in the UAE surged… to 13.6 per cent in 2007 and was expected to have exceeded 14 per cent in 2009," Emirates Business daily said, quoting an economy ministry report.
"I am sure you will see a further rise in the coming years as the UAE is easing social barriers and allowing women to get the sort of jobs that have been a taboo just a few years ago," a social affairs analyst told the paper.
Since 2007, women have held nine of the 40 seats in the country\’s advisory council. Currently the oil-rich Gulf state has four female cabinet ministers.
