ENGIE Pledges to Accelerate Gender Balance in Leadership in the UAE

ENGIE, the global low-carbon energy company, and long-term energy partner to the region, recently signed a voluntary pledge to accelerate gender balance and raise the percentage of women in leadership positions to 30 percent by 2025.

The pledge was made in a ceremony organized by the UAE Gender Balance Council.

The initiative further cements ENGIE’s commitment to incorporate a gender balanced management at the company level, with the aim to increase the rate of women in leadership positions to 30% by 2025.

Furthermore, according to the pledge, ENGIE will need to ensure the alignment and delivery of four main pillars: equal pay, employment and promotion on the basis of gender equality including senior leadership positions, integrating gender balance in the companies’ policies and programs, and transparency.

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ENGIE will apply several initiatives and policies to ensure equal pay for equal work for both genders within the workplace and equal opportunities for leadership positions with a balanced consideration for candidates free of gender bias.

ENGIE, will also sustain the gender equality mainstream within the company’s policies and programs and will transparently share and report the progress of the commitments.

Lemjed Bouzekri, Human Resources, Communication, Sustainability, Security Vice President - Asia, Middle East and Africa at ENGIE, said: “We are proud to take this pledge to increase the representation of females in leadership roles within our group.

"The pledge is a part of our commitment to gender equality in line with the UAE’s objectives to achieve gender balance and with SDG5 – gender equality.”

He added: “With the pledge, we are committed to accelerate the country’s objective to achieve gender balance by implementing new initiatives, policies and programs that will increase the representation of women in managerial positions in the UAE to 30% by the year 2025.

"At the same time and with the upcoming COP28 to be hosted in the UAE, it is imperative to ensure greater gender equality and inclusion in order to hear diverse point of views, opinions and perspectives, that are much needed in the race towards our sustainability goals.”

To exchange knowledge and experience on ways of advancing gender balance in the UAE, a focus group was organized by The UAE Private Sector Advisory Council on SDGs in collaboration with the UAE’s National Committee on SDGs as represented by the UAE Gender Balance Council (UAE GBC) and the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center (FCSC) and participated by various stakeholders from the private and public sector in 2019.

And today, 23 companies from the private sector pledged to contribute to the UAE’s vision to have a gender balanced workplace which is the result of the efforts made by of the UAE’s Private Sector Advisory Council on SDGs in collaboration with the UAE’s National Committee on SDGs, as well as the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre and the UAE Gender Balance Council over the past four years.

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