SPOTLIGHT: Female engineers tackle sustainability and gender imbalance in UAE

The flower bunches between the seats in the beige-carpeted majlis hall were conspicuous after their absence elsewhere at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

Running alongside the wider event at the National Exhibition Centre in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the third annual Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (Wiser) conference aimed to empower and encourage female engineers and scientists to create innovative solutions to global problems – although the interior designers could be accused of a slightly patronising touch.

Formed by Abu Dhabi renewable energy company Masdar and the Zayed Future Energy Prize, named after the UAE’s first leader, the conference featured women-only panels discussing business success and barriers to progress worldwide, and inspirational individuals such as mountain climber Raha Moharrak, the youngest Arab and first Saudi woman to climb Mount Everest.

Female engineers have a vital role to play in sustainable new projects as nations seek alternatives to fossil fuels, said engineer and celebrated academic Behjat Al Yousuf, interim provost at Masdar Institute, to PE. “Wiser is a great initiative, and it is about supporting women – whether they are students, professionals, even to the ones who are at the bottom of the pyramid – to be at the forefront of sustainability.”

A specialist in computer engineering, Al Yousuf travelled to the US to study in 1978. She said she did not know if she could have achieved the same success if she had stayed at home, but said there are clearly “different paradigms” in the two regions for professional women. “I cannot deny that what contributed to my self-confidence and being more independent and vocal about my opinion is the experience I had by living abroad, because that was the norm there.”

However, she stressed that neither was better or worse, and she believes that initiatives such as Wiser are creating a more nurturing and positive environment for female engineers in the UAE. The project, which focused its forum on ‘Easternisation’ this year, encourages young women to be “catalysts of innovation, industry leaders and drivers of commercial solutions,” while promoting the work they do in STEM industries. 

The main issues for professional women in the UAE are the same ones found around the world, said Al Yousuf – gender imbalance in boardrooms, lower salaries and poor employment rates. The problems remain despite positive change in academia, where the numbers of women studying have increased significantly. 

Today, said Al Yousuf, the biggest problem is retaining women in the profession after they finish studying at university. “The question is not about attracting women into studying engineering – around the world, the number of students studying is a healthy figure,” she said. “The real challenge is, how do we retain them in their career?”

Employment quotas could help, she said, but only if they lead to further progress in the workplace. The most important thing is mentoring, she said – providing young female engineers with role models and showing the profession as a viable alternative to traditional family roles. 

In response, the Wiser initiative is starting a volunteer mentoring programme for young students, answering questions and giving careers advice. The mentoring, said Al Yousuf, will help ensure that young Middle Eastern women have the say they deserve in vital new technology and projects.