Maryam Al Mehairi
“My advice to young women is not to be afraid of any challenge and not to let their gender hold them back.” This was the advice given by Maryam Al Mehairi – the then director of government liaison at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) – back in a 2015 article in the National. And, this month, she has proved herself to be a woman who lives by her words.
Al Mehairi has recently been appointed Minister of State by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and will be in charge of researching and planning for the UAE’s food security as part of her new role.
This new position comes with many challenges and demands, something Al Mehairi is familiar with given her high-pressured job at DWTC, where she worked within a highly male dominated environment, coordinating some of the region’s biggest trade exhibitions.
Al Mehairi joins the ranks of women who are rising to governmental positions in the new UAE Cabinet. Indeed, the UAE currently has more women in positions of authority than countries such as the United States – nine out of 31 ministerial positions in the UAE are now held by women (almost 30%), including the world’s first Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, in comparison to four in Donald Trump’s cabinet.
In the article, Al Mehairi credited the UAE government for providing women with strong support to pursue different career paths in the private and governmental spheres, and she also acknowledged how the DWTC helps further the careers of its female employees.
“Across the UAE, women have taken on leading roles across the public and private sectors compared to when I was growing up,” she said. “Over the next decade, we’ll see more women in the private sector, starting their own businesses, and representing the UAE overseas.”
