Seminar Held on gender & corruption for female Gulf Business Executives

In collaboration with SABIC, The Pearl Initiative, a business-led non-profit organization promoting corporate responsibility in the Gulf region, organized a series of four seminars on women and corruption in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The program gave female executives and leaders a venue to debate and come up with plans for dealing with workplace corruption and other related issues in the corporate world. 75 male and female business leaders and executives participated in the sessions, which were led by Baker Sindi, Senior Manager, of Compliance Programs MEA at SABIC, and Shatha Awdah Al-Shammari, Senior Manager, New Hire Experience at SABIC.

The seminars' main goal was to give participants the knowledge and abilities needed to identify and handle corruption-related gender-specific concerns. "In many countries, women still struggle to enjoy equal rights and opportunities, with many encountering discrimination, cultural or religious bias, harassment, and violence," said Shatha Awdah Al-Shammari, Senior Manager, of New Recruit Experience at SABIC.

While utilizing public services like healthcare and education, women still encounter corruption. We can observe that these behaviours are widely accepted in culture and frequently occur in the workplace.

Diversity has a big influence in several ways and may be a useful weapon in the battle against corruption. According to a McKinsey & Company report titled "The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women's Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth," in a "best in region" scenario, catching up to the fastest-improving nation in the region could potentially add up to $12 trillion, or 11% of the annual GDP in 2025.

Nevertheless, under a more ambitious "full potential" scenario, when men and women are equally represented in the labour market, the yearly global GDP might increase by up to $28 trillion or 26% by 2025.

"The Saudi economy is thriving with a rising number of women either joining the workforce for the first time or progressing up the professional ladder into leadership roles," said Danah Abboud, Diversity in Business Leadership Programme Manager at the Pearl Initiative. To ensure that gender inequality and corruption do not impede the advancement of women in the region, this is an ideal chance for women to become female mentors and thought leaders.

According to the Saudi Human Rights Commission, over the previous five years, Saudi women's employment rates rose from 21% to 35%. As a result, there is an increasing need to empower women and provide them with a platform to recognize and expose corruption to benefit businesses and their supply networks.