The UAE continues to set the benchmark for gender diversity in Gulf boardrooms, with women now occupying 15 percent of board seats across the country’s listed companies — up from 14.7 percent in 2025. This marks the third consecutive year the UAE has topped the GCC Board Gender Index, published by Heriot-Watt University Dubai and Aurora50.
Across the GCC as a whole, women hold 7 percent of board positions among 759 publicly listed companies, a modest increase from 6.9 percent the year prior. In total, 341 women now fill 403 board seats across the region, reflecting growth in both the number of female directors and the number of roles they occupy.
Bahrain ranked second in the region at 10.5 percent, followed by Oman at 7 percent. Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia recorded 5.6 percent, 3.2 percent and 2.9 percent respectively, highlighting the significant gap between the UAE and most of its regional peers.
The report also noted that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are the only GCC nations where women hold board positions across every sector — pointing to broader participation in the UAE beyond the commonly diversified financial services space, which continues to lead in terms of total female board seats, followed by industrial and consumer sectors.
Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairperson of Aurora50, highlighted that women’s board representation in the UAE has grown from 3.5 percent in 2020 to 15 percent in 2026 — a fourfold increase in six years, driven by sustained leadership commitment to gender equity.
Heather McGregor, Provost of Heriot-Watt University Dubai, acknowledged the consistency of progress but noted that a clear opportunity remains to accelerate representation more broadly across the Gulf region.
For businesses operating in or entering the UAE market, the data signals not just a regulatory trend but a governance shift — one where boardroom diversity is increasingly seen as a marker of resilience and long-term value creation. The region’s trajectory, though incremental, is moving consistently in one direction.
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