Supreme Council for Planning and Development (SCPD) Secretary General Dr. Khaled Mahdi stated that Kuwait continues to develop and empower women’s capacities for their positive involvement in development and advancement in the public and private sectors.
This was in a speech delivered by Dr. Mahdi before the start of a panel discussion hosted by the UN House on Tuesday on the occasion of International Women’s Day and a celebration of the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Platform (WEEP), in which the private sector in Kuwait participates with the support of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women and the Department of Women’s Studies at Kuwait University.
In the latest studies, it mentions that women constitute 60 percent of the workforce in the government sector and that the percentage of decision-makers and those in leadership positions rose to 21 percent, after it was 13 percent in the last study several years ago, Mahdi said.
He also pointed to the employment of women as judges and prosecutors as examples, believing in the ability of women to work and strive together with men as part of development in any society.
The study indicates an increase in the percentage of women in state scholarships and their participation in civil society organizations, and that the current situation specifies the growth of women’s capabilities within the workforce and leadership positions, he explained.
The study showed that the involvement of women on the boards of directors of private companies in Kuwait had a direct positive impact on the culture and work environment in these companies, as well as an improvement in their financial statements, while the link between the presence of women in human resources departments in companies is also positive, he added.
Despite these percentages and the observations that the study highlighted, the percentage of women’s involvement in the private sector in Kuwait is relatively weaker than in the government sector for several reasons, perhaps the most important of which is the Kuwaiti economy, which has a strong social aspect, and the economic impact is governed by societal cultural change, while another reason revealed by the study is parental interference in the decisions of the workforce by directing them to the government sector, he explained.
He concluded his speech by saying that scientific studies confirm that women are the real changers of any economy, commending the companies that joined WEEP, which numbered 45, after seven companies signed on to it at its launch last year.
Meanwhile, the UNDP Resident Representative Hideko Hadzialic confirmed that despite the acceleration of world economies in employing women in their various sectors, the proportions of some sectors are still relatively small, for example, the technology and artificial intelligence sector that is sweeping the world.
Hadzialic explained that smart companies have become aware that women constitute 50 percent of the composition of societies, and by intensifying efforts to empower women in various fields, especially technological ones, the world will continue to reach fair equality between women and men in the labor market in its various sectors.
The seminar included the participation of heads of human resources departments from several Kuwaiti companies and banks that joined WEEP, where they presented their companies’ experiences in involving women in their various departments, especially in leadership positions and boards of directors.
Source: Kuwait News Agency