Dubai: They bring more than just their cosmetics.
Relevant studies concluded that women’s presence on a company’s boards of directors could bring benefits that include higher profits. But so far, women’s participation on board of directors are very limited in the Gulf region and the rest of the Arab countries due to social factors and norms.
“I think subconsciousness culture is behind not selecting women (on boards) and this doesn’t have to do with their performance,” said Raeda Al Sarayreh, UAE Country Manager of CH2M MENAI.
“The fact is that women represent less than 1 per cent on board across GCC, even saying 2 per cent or 3 per cent is really optimistic, and we don’t have a culture that supports women to become board members,” the Dubai-based Al Sarayreh told Gulf News. She says that many women are qualified to hold top positions in corporations and companies.
Hoda Abou-Jamra, Managing Partner of TVM Capital Partners, a health provider equity fund, said the more the diverse the board members of a company, the better is its performance.
“Diverse boardrooms mirror customers and society at large in a better way, making a company a better steward of its resources,” she said.
“An increasingly growing body of research supports the argument for greater diversity in leadership, suggesting that more women on the management floor and in the boardroom may equate to outperforming returns,” Abou-Jamra added in a written interview with Gulf News.
“According to a study of 3,000 listed companies published in late 2014 by Credit Suisse, greater gender diversity in management correlates with better financial performance, superior return on equity and higher stock valuation.
Since 2005, companies with more than one woman on the board have returned a compound 3.7 per cent a year more than those that have none,” she said.
TVM Capital Healthcare Partners has 980 employees, 55 per cent of whom are women and has more women on the board of its companies than any other private equity firm, according to the Annual Report for 2015.
Abou-Jamra is also the chairperson of the 30 per cent Club GCC Chapter. The 30 per cent Club was launched in UK in 2010 by a group of executives and board members advocating the goal of a achieving a minimum of 30 per cent women on FTSE-100 boards.
“More needs to be done on board diversification; the industry should look inward at its own human resource investments and consider the value a diverse workforce can add,” she said.
The percentage of women in executive positions varies in different regions.
In the US, 13.7 per cent of professionals at private equity firms in North America on average are women. In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the number of women on the boards of publicly listed companies in the GCC region decreased from 60 seats — or 1.5 per cent of total board seats — in 2008, to only 43 in 2011, according to Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance.
In the UAE, the situation is not different, said Rayhanah Natangcop-Guinomla, CPA, executive MBA Alumni of Cass Business School in Dubai. She conducted a study last year and concluded that there are only three female members out of nearly 170 board members of 20 big companies listed in both Abu-Dhabi and Dubai stock markets.
The study was looking at the demographic and statuary diversity of companies.
“Women are an untapped resource — and we need to work together with current and future members to achieve better representation of women on boards,” said Abou Jamrah.
“Women in our region have in recent years participated in higher education at an unprecedented level. Now this development needs to be slowly reflected in corporate reality in our companies. And I think it could. It might take a bit of time, but it will,” she added.
Al Sarayreh echoed a similar view. She said, apart from the government’s supportive position, companies need to take a stronger stand offering women access to tools and opportunities, and allowing them to sit at the board table as members.
In 2012, The UAE cabinet made it compulsory for corporations and government agencies to include women on their boards of directors.
“At the end a diverse board members is “strength for any company”, said Al Sarayreh. “A diverse gender, leadership and culture members is a plus to companies.”
