News
US-UAE Relations
Posted on 02/17/09
www.uae-us.org
The UAE is a source of stability, tolerance, innovation, and growth in the Arabian Gulf and around the globe. The UAE and United States are reliable allies, with shared security and economic interests:
- Enhancing stability and security in the Arabian Gulf and the broader Middle East
- Ensuring reliable energy supplies to world markets
- Encouraging global free trade and investment
- Confronting terrorism and extremism in the region and the world
Long Term Economic Partners
With one of the most open and innovative economies in the world, the UAE is a dependable and substantial economic partner with the United States.
- The UAE is the United States' largest export market in the Arab World, purchasing $11.6 billion in US goods in 2007.
- US companies have played major roles in the development of UAE energy resources, which represent about 10 percent of global oil reserves.
- The UAE is the only oil producer in the Gulf to maintain private-sector participation in the oil industry.
- More than 750 US firms have a presence in the UAE, from Bechtel and ExxonMobil to Starbucks and Cold Stone Creamery.
- UAE investment has been a dependable and long-term engine of growth for the US economy, injecting capital, expanding market access, creating jobs and contributing to mutual prosperity.
An Expanding Relationship
Relations between the UAE and the United States are growing, especially in the social and cultural sectors.
US institutions, including Harvard University, New York University, Michigan State University and the Guggenheim Museum, are working closely with a range of educational and cultural organizations in the UAE, establishing a number of new institutions.
In various ways, Johns Hopkins, the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic are each contributing to the delivery of health care services and facilities in the UAE.
The UAE provided $100 million to the United States in the days following Hurricane Katrina.
Women in the UAE
The Constitution of the UAE guarantees equal rights for both men and women. Under the Constitution, women enjoy the same legal status, claim to titles, access to education and the right to practice professions as men. They are also guaranteed the same access to employment, health and family welfare facilities. The rights of women to inherit property are also guaranteed and ensured.
Education and Literacy
- The literacy rate of women in the UAE was 90 percent in 2007.
- The number of UAE national women enrolled in higher education is actually 24 percent more than the number of UAE national men enrolled in higher education and reflects a staggering statistic: 77 percent of UAE females continue on to higher education from high school.
- With 3,200 female students and campuses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the US-accredited Zayed University is producing graduates who are strong in technology, business, the arts and leadership.
- Women currently make up 75 percent of the student body at the national university in Al-Ain.
Women in Government and Business
Women graduates in the UAE can now be found working in government, engineering, science, health care, media, computer technology, law, commerce and the oil industry.
Four UAE cabinet ministers are women-including Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Foreign Trade Minister, who was on Forbes magazine's 2007 list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.
Women form two-thirds of government sector workers. In October 2008, the first female judge was sworn in.
- In 2006, nine women took up seats within the Federal National Council (FNC), accounting for 22.5 percent of the Council's membership. In March 2007, these nine FNC members sat for the first time and began full participation in the deliberations of the Council.
- In 2003, for the first time, the Abu Dhabi police trained 32 women to work with the special security forces.
- The UAE has four women fighter pilots, the first to serve in UAE military forces.
Education
The 2007 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) status report on Millennium Development Goals recognized the positive outcome of the UAE's target-oriented policies in a number of areas, including women's empowerment. It particularly noted that the state legislations in the UAE do not discriminate on the basis of gender with respect to education, employment or the quality of services provided.
According to the findings of the report, educational indicators show that women's achievements in education have reached its targeted levels, and in some cases, exceeded that of men because of a strong desire among women to become financially independent and professionally successful.
Along with economic growth, the UAE has progressed in the social arena. According to the UNDP's Gender-Related Development Index for 2007-2008, the UAE ranks 43rd among 177 countries and 29th in the world under the Gender Empowerment Measures, which is the best rating in the Arab World.
The UAE released a report in the fall of 2008, Women in the United Arab Emirates: A Portrait of Progress, which outlines both the developments and challenges associated with the status of women in the Emirates. The report notes that "Having made significant progress, the UAE does not intend to stagnate with regards to its women's empowerment policies but rather to continue and develop... The UAE intends to establish a new benchmark for gender empowerment in the region."
