Gulf Times recently reported that, encouraged by a growing number of schemes, the number of businesswomen and entrepreneurs appears to be on the rise in the United Arab Emirates. The composition of women in the UAE workforce surged to the current 33.4% as compared to 9.6% in 1986.

According to the economy ministry, UAE has over 11,000 businesswomen managing investments worth over USD 4 billion. Of these, 14.9% of the women are from Kuwait, 9.8% from Saudi Arabia, 7.8% from Bahrain, 4.7% from Oman and 4.5% from Qatar.

UAE Economy Minister Sheikha Lubna al Qasimi recently noted that UAE businesswomen have emerged key players in all walks of public life including commerce, socio-economic development and politics. Remarking on the rise in the number of women players in various endeavors, Sheikha Lubna said “There is no field that women have not excelled in.”

Emirate businesswomen invested a total of USD 3.3 billion in the economy of Dubai in 2007. These investments were made in sectors like real estate, construction, finance, trade manufacturing and hospitality.

In the Gulf, women comprise 25% of the total workforce, with 4.5% owning freehold businesses. Bahrain leads with 59% of women who are sole owners of their firms, followed, elsewhere in the Arab world, by Tunisia at 55%, 48% in Jordan and the UAE and 41% in Lebanon.

The rise of women in the workforce is partly due to investment in education by Arab rulers in the 1970s, when free education to all citizens through university was guaranteed by some Gulf nations.