ABU DHABI, 17 December 2002 — Emirati women employees have outnumbered their male counterparts in federal ministries and departments, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Figures released by the Ministry of Planning showed that at the end of 2001, female employees in federal ministries and departments totaled 16,223 while males stood at 9,518, according to the Gulf News.
Although male employees outnumber women in some ministries, females have become the dominant force in the Ministry of Education, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of the civil servants in the federal government.
The figures showed that the UAE women in that ministry stood at around 13,022, nearly triple the male employees numbering 4,580 at the end of 2001.
From a negligible number 10 years ago, female employees in other departments have also sharply increased to narrow the gap or overtake male workers, the paper said.
In the Ministry of Health, they also outnumbered male nationals as they totaled 1,907 compared with 1,782 males. The gap has also largely narrowed in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as the UAE female employees totaled 539 against 541 males.
