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Queen Rania of Jordan hails women empowerment in UAE

Xinhua, February 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan said Tuesday that the Arab world has to urgently catch up with global trends in order to give the women a better place in society, politics and business.

In a keynote speech before the Global Women's Forum 2016, Queen Rania praised the government of the host country United Arab Emirates (UAE) for appointing two more women as ministers and a woman as parliament speaker.

In a recent Cabinet reshuffle, Ohood Al-Roumi has been appointed minister of happiness and Noura Al-Kaabi minister of state for the UAE Federal National Council (FNC), the advisory parliament in the Gulf Arabian state.

Earlier, Amal Al-Qubaisi was appointed as the Middle East's first female speaker of the FNC. The queen called the UAE a role model for the Arab world.

Women have been occupying minister positions in the UAE government since 2004.

Queen Rania said while many women in the Arab world are stuck by conflicts and social boundaries, there are many signs of progress in politics, science, business and the Arab economies."

"Changing the world needs time, changing perceptions may take generations. Therefore, we have to continue to promote women's rights and demand progress in all society levels for women," she added. Endit