The Women in Leadership (WIL) Forum is a dynamic annual event that celebrates the industry achievements, innovations and progress of womankind. This year, it was held from May 29th-30th in Dubai, UAE, under the patronage of H.E. Maryam Mohammed Khalfan Al Roumi, the country's Minister of Social Affairs.
Regarded as the chance to expand one's business network and explore access to new markets and partners, the occasion was a noteworthy opportunity to enhance brand and national image and learn about the impact of ‘womenomics'. On the agenda were lively 90-minute panel discussions, think-tank sessions by leading businesswomen and a series of stimulating topics by impressive key note speakers.
Dr. Nemat Shafik, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, gave an interesting speech about ‘Unlocking women's economic success', where she highlighted how as of 2011, only 21% of the MENA workforce was comprised of women. Another interesting fact worth noting is that a high proportion of highly educated females in the gulf are unemployed. This is dismal considering women generally tend to be better at management, evidenced by their resourcefulness at budgeting and that statistics how they control approximately two-thirds of household income. Also, the female population tends to be more future-oriented than men, for example, the immense importance they give to investing in prospects for their children. Gender equality in business is an area greatly in need of further development, for the sake of both the regional economy and as a key modern-day social index.
Therefore, to commemorate females everywhere, there were 5 WIL achievement award categories for women's 2012 work efforts, the most compelling of which was ‘Most women-friendly employer', given to the organization that cultivates the careers of its women executives. Servcorp was honored to be one of the finalists, nominated for the impressive 80% female ratio of its global workforce and attention to contributing to the advancement of women's empowerment around the world by coaching their female employees to become corporate executives and grow into leaders.
