Abu Dhabi,Nov.15, 2006 (WAM)- Today marked the second stageof the ongoing UAE Gender Mainstreaming Initiative with the completionof two specialised sessions in Gender and Legislation and Genderand Social Affairs respectively.

The UAE Gender Mainstreaming Initiative was launched inMarch 2006 under the directives of Her Highness Sheikha Fatimabint Mubarak, Mother of the Nation and Chairperson of the UAEGeneral Women's Union. This Initiative comes as part of theUAE's impressive moves towards enhancing good governance andgender empowerment and is implemented through the UAE's umbrellawomen organisation, the General Women's Union (GWU), in cooperationwith the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the UAEand with the support of the Government of the United Kingdom.

The UAE Gender Mainstreaming Initiative sets out to buildnational capacities in gender mainstreaming to enable the UAEGovernment to ensure incorporation of gender issues in all itspolicies and programmes. The aim is to more effectively contributeto gender empowerment and sustainable development efforts inthe country.

Ruba AI Hassan, UNDP Gender Specialist, said that the consecutiveworkshops addressed legislation that is particularly relevantto women and social affairs that pertain to women and the family.

She confirmed that subsequent workshops are planned in the comingmonths on other sector-specific gender Issues namely, genderand health, gender and education, gender and political participation,gender and the environment, gender and the media and gender andthe economy. Exchange programmes and study tours are also plannedto allow (or sharing of experiences and to gain a perspectiveon regional best practices.

Suad Yousef, UNDP Project Officer at GWU, affirmed that the workshopswere attended by officials from the General Women's Union, theFederal National Council, the Ministries of Interior, Justiceand Social Affairs, UAE Red Crescent, the Awqaf Authority andthe media. Suad affirmed that this is in line with one of themain goals of the Initiative to strengthen partnerships betweenGWU and various Ministries and Authoritiesin a bid to ensure government officials are gender sensitizedand all government policies and programmes incorporate genderissues.

GWU was founded in 1975 under the Presidency of Her HighnessSheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak as a support and advocacy organizationfor the women's movement in the United Arab Emirates.

UNDP is the UN's global development network. It advocates countries'access to knowledge, expertise and resources to enable theirpeoples to enjoy a better life.