Women make better president prime minister

While effective crisis management along with a more empathic approach may well characterize Ardern and other female leaders as the new power brokers for the 21st century, making it to the seat of governance remains an almighty hurdle, with the world average of women in parliament being 24.9%, according to UN Women. Only 6.6% of heads of state and 6.2% of heads of government are women. The UAE stands in marked contrast to this; its nine female ministers in the cabinet ranking the country fourth on the UN’s table of women in parliament (after Rwanda, Cuba, and Bolivia.) And it’s not only in government that female leaders and pioneers are coming to the fore. Scientist Sarah Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and deputy project manager and science lead at the Emirates Mars Mission, is helping prepare two missions to Mars, including the Hope Probe – a locally made satellite due to launch to space this year. And after winning the bid for Expo 2020, Reem Al Hashimi, Minister of State for International Cooperation and director general of the Expo 2020 Dubai Office, helped put the region’s success under the international spotlight.

• While effective crisis management along with a more empathic approach may well characterize Ardern and other female leaders as the new power brokers for the 21st century, making it to the seat of governance remains an almighty hurdle, with the world average of women in parliament being 24.9%, according to UN Women. Only 6.6% of heads of state and 6.2% of heads of government are women. The UAE stands in marked contrast to this; its nine female ministers in the cabinet ranking the country fourth on the UN’s table of women in parliament (after Rwanda, Cuba, and Bolivia.) And it’s not only in government that female leaders and pioneers are coming to the fore. Scientist Sarah Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and deputy project manager and science lead at the Emirates Mars Mission, is helping prepare two missions to Mars, including the Hope Probe – a locally made satellite due to launch to space this year. And after winning the bid for Expo 2020, Reem Al Hashimi, Minister of State for International Cooperation and director general of the Expo 2020 Dubai Office, helped put the region’s success under the international spotlight.