This is hilarious. Dubai, the most populous of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), held an award ceremony for their much-ballyhooed push for gender balance - and all the winners were men!
Talking up a storm, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, hereditary leader of the Emirate of Dubai, waxed lyrical: "We are proud of the success of Emirati women, and their role is central to shaping the future of the country ... Gender balance has become a central pillar in our governmental institutions".
Then, the three awards were announced, two of them to two male members of the royal family (one of them Sheikh Mohammed's own brother), and the other to two male government officials.
The World Economic Forum's 2018 Global Gender Gap report has the UAE in 121st place out of 148 countries, although that still puts it the third best in the Arab-dominated Middle East and North Africa, and the Global Gender Gap report does mention that things have improved in UAE in recent years. So, I guess they are trying, in their own little way.
In case you were wondering, the top four places in the Global Gender Gap report are occupied by Scandinavian countries (go figure!), and Canada is in a reasonably creditable 15th position.
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