UAE struggles with new rule to get women on company boards

There is a cultural mindset discourages women from jobs that keep them at work late and have them work with men.

Getting more women on corporate boards in the United Arab Emirates was never going to be easy, and the numbers after a new rule went into effect to boost their presence bears that out. Since the country announced on March 15 that listed companies should have at least one female board member, only four of the 23 people added to such roles at firms on the UAE’s two major stock exchanges have been women, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That barely moves the needle in a country where about 96% of such positions are held by men. For Fatma Hussain, the only female on the board of Dubai-based logistics group Aramex PJSC, the sluggish progress is evidence of a cultural mindset that keeps women away from such roles. Women — especially from conservative backgrounds — shun posts that may require staying out late or interacting with male colleagues, said the UAE national, who’s also the chief human capital officer at TECOM Group, a unit of sovereign investment vehicle Dubai Holding.